by Brook Wilder
Running my finger down my daughter’s downy cheek, I felt the prick of tears in the back of my eyes. She was perfect, everything that I had imagined she would be. Her small patch of dark hair made me chuckle.
She should have a lot more given the heartburn I had suffered through.
The door opened and Rex came in, his expression softening as he took in the sight. “Damn,” he said, approaching the bed. “That’s a sight I thought I would never see.”
“Well, Daddy,” I said, handing over our daughter to him. “You might want to memorize it because in a few years, you might be rethinking this whole kid thing.”
He took her in his large hands, cradling her to his chest. “Never,” he said, looking down at her. “Can you believe we made this tiny human being, Kris?”
I wiped a tear away, wanting to memorize the sight I was currently watching. “Never.”
His own eyes were wet with tears as he leaned over and kissed my forehead. “I love you.”
I leaned into his touch. “And I love you.”
“This changes so fucking much,” he said, pulling back. “I’m stepping down.”
Surprised, I found his eyes. “From the club? But it’s everything you wanted.”
“No.” He looked at me, and then at our child. “This. This is everything I wanted, Kris. You, me, a family. Do you know how many years I’ve spent dreaming about this exact moment? And now that I have it, I can’t bear knowing that I might leave you and our little girl behind. And for what? So I can go riding with the rest of the club into an early grave? I want to grow old with you, Kris. I want to watch our kids move through the years until they are adults of their own. I don’t want to be in the fucking ground, while you and our kids talk to a tombstone that won’t ever respond.”
“Rex,” I started, reaching out to touch his cheek. The club was his life and had been for a long time. While I had my own club, my involvement had started to wane since I had found out that I was pregnant and though I hadn’t voiced it, I had some thoughts about leaving myself.
He touched his forehead to mine. “I’m sure. God, Kris, I would never put our family in danger.”
“I know,” I answered, feeling his tears on my cheeks. My strong, amazing husband was being reduced to tears by the little bundle he had in his arms.
Who would have thought?
“Knock, knock.”
Rex straightened, wiping his face as Mama Bear burst through the door. “Y’all ready for visitors yet? The entire waiting room is wreaking havoc on the poor nurses out there. I think we have forced our way past the two-person visitor policy.”
Rex handed our daughter back to me, leaning against the bed. “Yeah, let them all in so then they can get the fuck out.”
Mama Bear grinned and less than a moment later, my room was full of our family, all gazing at the perfect life we had just brought into the world.
Well, not all of them. Rex had all but chased off the new husband and wife, telling them that their honeymoon was waiting, and they could see the baby when they got back.
But everyone else was there: Crankshaft and Sabs; Ironsides and Jessie; Alisha and Chuckler; Elisa and Machine Gun; Voodoo and Siren; Two Tone and Leigh; Halftrack and Cora.
It was kind of hilarious, everyone dressed up for the wedding still, but I still felt the tears in my eyes as I gazed upon the people that had fought alongside Rex and me, keeping their faith in us when sometimes it didn’t feel like there was any hope. These people had put their lives on the line many times for the club that had brought us together and to have them here was everything.
Thank you wasn’t going to be near enough, but we said it anyways.
There were grins all around. “Who does she look like?”
“A girl. Damn, I lost the pool then.”
“What the hell are you going to do with a girl anyway, Chains?”
“Yay! Now we aren’t the only ones with a child.”
“Say goodbye to your sleep.”
I heard them all as the women came up to see the baby for the first time, all cooing over her like she was the first baby they had ever seen. “How do you feel?” Siren asked, laying a hand on my arm.
“The meds are still on board,” I said, giving her a wan smile. “I’m sure it’s gonna get rough for me in a little bit.”
“Well, we are all here for you,” Jessie stated. “Just like you have always been there for us.”
“Thanks, girls.” I answered, tears spilling over onto my cheeks. I didn’t bother to wipe them away, figuring this was the one time I could show some weakness at least. “You are all like family to us and there are no words.”
“No need,” Cora stated. “Really.”
“I’m just glad that’s there’s a new baby,” Alisha grinned. “Someone to spoil.”
The women murmured in agreement and I smiled. “And no worries.”
Alisha laughed. “Oh honey, there will always be worries but the worst is behind us. Now we can move on with our lives.”
“And be happy. Truly happy,” Leigh chimed in. “Like a family should be.”
And we were a family.
***
Rex
It took an hour to kick them all out. I could see the exhaustion on Kris’ face and knew that she needed rest, so I thanked them all and shut the door in their faces, not caring if they took offense.
I knew they wouldn’t, but it was fun to think that they would. “I can’t believe she’s sleeping through all that chatter.”
Kris smiled, snuggling into her pillow. “Maybe she’s used to it. It hasn’t been a quiet nine months.”
I chuckled. That was an understatement. “Hopefully our luck will continue. How are you feeling?”
“Really tired,” she admitted as I took her hand. “But I’m happy. Is it odd for us to be this happy, Rex?”
“Hell, no,” I answered, pressing my lips to her hand. “We deserve it, Kris.” The shit we had been through—we deserved happiness for the rest of our lives.
Kris didn’t answer, her eyes straying to the bassinet where our daughter lay. I still was struggling with the fact that we were parents. Sure, we had talked about it during the pregnancy, but now that she was here, there was a person who was counting on us to get her through life.
That was the main driving force for my thoughts about giving up the club. I hadn’t told any of the council members yet, but I was hard-pressed to think they weren’t already aware of my thoughts. The Jesters deserved someone who could give himself to the club and I now had other things that deserved my complete attention.
Two of the most important ones were in this room with me right now.
Clearing my throat, I massaged her hand with my own. “So, a name.”
“Yeah,” Kris said. “I was thinking Audrey Mae.”
Audrey Mae. Hell, I didn’t know anything about naming a kid, other than what not to name it. “Sounds good to me.”
“Rex,” Kris started, her eyes on mine. “You know I would follow you to the ends of the earth and if you want to stay with the club, I won’t deny you that happiness.”
I leaned down, brushing my lips over hers. In my mind, I saw her ten, twenty, thirty years from now, giving me the middle finger as I did something she didn’t like.
I saw her loving our children, making our lives easier just because she was in it.
I saw her with her heavy-lidded eyes as I loved her, the throaty cries she used when I found just the right spot.
Most of all, I saw her loving me, a fractured, hard-ass biker who hadn’t given a fuck about anything in his life other than her.
“I don’t need the club,” I said huskily.
I only needed her.
THE END
A Word from Brook Wilder
Thank you for reading SHATTERED GRACE. I hope you liked it as much as I did writing it. If you haven’t had a chance to read the rest of the Rough Jesters MC series, I highly recommend doing so. It’s a total of nine standalone books that
tell a greater story across them.
So what are you waiting for? Once you ride along with the Rough Jesters, you won’t be able to stop…
Tap the links below to grab the books from Amazon:
SAVAGE ANGEL
BROKEN BEAUTY
CORRUPT HONOR
RUINED MERCY
SINFUL HAVEN
TAINTED DESIRE
OUTLAW VIRTUE
WICKED LEGACY
SHATTERED GRACE
OTHER BOOKS BY BROOK WILDER
SOUTHERN BIKERS SERIES
WRECKED
SHATTERED
DEFILED
PROTECTOR
GUARDIAN
SENTINEL
MONSTER
SAVAGE
HELLION
FRONTIER REAPERS MC TRILOGY
DECEIVED
BETRAYED
FORSAKEN
DEVIL’S MARTYRS MC SERIES
DEVIL’S DEAL
DEVIL’S SEED
DEVIL’S BARGAIN
DEVIL’S PACT
DEVIL’S VOW
DEVIL’S PASSION
GHOST RIDERS MC SERIES
BOUGHT
SHACKLED
UNDONE
GRIZZLY MC TRILOGY
TRAPPED
SNARED
TANGLED
DIRTY CRUISERS MC SERIES
RIDE HARD
RIDE ROUGH
RIDE WILD
RIDE FREE
RIDE DEEP
RIDE HOME
CONTARINI CRIME FAMILY SERIES
CLAIMED BY THE DON
CHAINED BY THE DON
BOUND BY THE DON
BROKEN HOUNDS MC SERIES
RENEGADE
REVENGE
REDEMPTION