Deke grinned. “I can help you with that. You, me and some of the boys will pick the kids up tonight after school. Hey, those kids belong to you now and they have the protection of the MC, just like anyone else. It’s time to show the bully what might happen if he keeps it up.”
Gator grinned. “Yeah, we’ll scare the shit out of the kid just by showing up. I love it. I want those kids to be proud of this club and everything it stands for.”
“That’s what I want for my kids too.”
“Maybe we should start a sons and daughters club,” Reva joked as she joined them.
Cassie came behind her with food for the kids. “That sounds like a plan. It can be known as the second generation club, but the name would have to be kid friendly.”
“How about the sons and daughters of the white tiger?” Reva suggested. “Everyone in town knows what the tiger stands for.”
“That would work,” Gator agreed. “I want the kids to be proud of what we are and what we do here.”
“Maybe it’s time to bring Redemption House under the MC,” Cassie suggested.
Deke snapped his head around to stare at her for a moment. ”You mean that?”
She shrugged. “It would mean we would lose the state backing but that wouldn’t be so bad.”
Deke shook his head. “Then leave it alone. It doesn’t belong to the MC anyway. That was your dream.”
Cassie reached out and laid her hand on his arm. “But don’t I belong to the MC too?”
“You bet your ass you do.” Deke growled. “You belong to me and I am the MC.”
“Then my dream should belong too,” Cassie insisted. “What we do there reflects on the MC anyway. Everyone knows who we are.” She snickered. “The guys down at the House want vests like yours. It wouldn’t be the MC colors but they could share Rufus with you.” She looked over at the orange tiger on the wall.
Deke laughed out loud. “Yeah, they can have Rufus as long as we have the white tiger.” He looked over at the painting. “Does he have a name as well?”
Cassie turned and stared at the white tiger. “Yeah, he has a name. You’ll have to ask Melora to share it though. It’s sort of her guardian.”
“Melora huh?” Deke whispered.
“Yeah, she and I have more in common than I thought.” Cassie nodded. “So how about if I make up some vests for the kids? Do you think that would work?”
Gator grinned. “Yeah, I think that would work pretty damn good. Jackie boy would love one.”
“I think all the kids would wear them with pride,” Reva added.
“Then I’d better get busy.” Cassie grinned.
Deke handed little Sam to his mother and kissed the top of her head. “And I’d better get to work.” His hand rested lightly on her belly. “Take care of my family, little mother.”
“I will.” Cassie smiled. “You better take care too.”
Deke nodded. Turning, he walked to the front door and out into the parking lot. Out in the sunshine, he paused and glanced carefully around the compound. The hairs on the back of his head tingled briefly. Something or someone was out there watching him. He could feel it. For a moment, his gut tightened and his senses went on alert. His eyes narrowed as he did another search of the area but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
~* * * *~
For a moment, the shadows lengthened then pulled back. The figure standing there gasped as Deke’s eyes washed over her. She’d found him! After years of waiting to grow up and then years of searching for him, she had found him. A thrill ran down her spine and before she could stop herself she took a step forward, then the door opened again and she saw a woman come out.
Deke’s arms went around her waist as he pulled her close to him and kissed her.
The woman in the shadows gasped as her heart shattered. She watched then as two small children came through the door.
Deke smiled and picked them both up. Kissing them soundly, he laughed out loud as the children giggled at him.
The woman in the shadows stepped back and watched from the safety of the woods until Deke finally swung his leg over his motorcycle and started the engine. The roar of his bike blocked out any sounds she might have heard from the compound but that was okay. It would also block out the sounds of her tears as she openly wept. Hugging the tree she was hiding behind, she sobbed as her dreams disappeared.
She’d been searching for Deke for a very long time. Seven years to be exact, ever since the day she buried her father. Leaning her head against the rough bark of the tree, she began shaking. She’d loved Deke since she was twelve years old, that fact hadn’t changed in the last seventeen years. When he left Maine, he’d taken a big piece of her heart with him. She survived only knowing the fact that one day, they would be together again.
She turned her head and watched as the woman gathered the two small children into her arms and escorted them back inside the clubhouse. With eyes narrowed, she decided she hated the woman that had taken Deke’s love from her. Her tears dried on her face as a deep rage began to build within her. Her rages of the past while bad enough was nothing like the fury inside her now. Before her soul had burned various shades of red, but this wrath burned black and threatened to consume her very soul. This might be the one rage she would never return from.
With her hands clenched into fists, she vowed then and there to bring nothing but pain and misery to the other woman. If she couldn’t have Deke, then the other woman wouldn’t either. She would see to that.
Making her way to the edge of the wooded area, her cycle sat parked there. Swinging her leg over the seat, she started the engine. Old Captain’s bike still ran like a charm. Cordy smiled and pulled out of her hiding place. She gunned the engine and raced into town. She had places to be and people to see.
Her plans might have changed a bit but she still had to get everything ready. For now, she would wait and watch carefully. When she knew more, then she would step in and act. For now though, she would just watch. It might break her heart but she would deal with that later.
CHAPTER TWO
Izzy glanced up from where she was sitting at the kitchen table and to her delight, Dominic stood in her doorway. She smiled as she got up and rushed over to her father. Hugging him, she stepped back and said, “What are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to see you again. Is that all right?”
Izzy’s smile deepened. “Of course it is. I’m glad to see you again.” Turning, she led him over to the table, when she turned back, she saw Dominic wasn’t alone. Her smile faltered a bit, as she saw his attorney, Ben Singer behind him. The man was rude and arrogant and she didn’t lie him one bit.
Dominic nodded his head toward the man. “You remember Ben, don’t you?”
Izzy nodded. “I do.” Motioning for everyone to sit, Izzy stared at her father. “To what do I owe this visit?”
“How is Boone doing with his recovery? I know he had the surgery to remove the bullet.”
Izzy nodded as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “That went very well and he’s begun his physical therapy. He has eight years of muscle to build up in his legs. Some days are better than others, but he’s making the effort. He isn’t quitting.”
“That’s great to hear.” Dominic smiled.
Just then, Mountain came into the kitchen. He paused then came to sit beside Izzy. “Dominic.”
Dominic nodded his head. “I’m glad you’re here. I want to talk to both of you.”
“About?” Mountain cocked his head to one side and studied the other man.
Dominic fidgeted in his chair for a moment, then got to his feet and began pacing back and forth. “As you both know, finding Izzy has been something I never thought would happen. I thought my daughter would be lost to me forever when I couldn’t find her shortly after she was born.” He paused then gazed at Izzy. His face softened and he reached out to lay his hand along her cheek. “I closed off my heart, so I couldn’t feel the pain of your loss anymore. As t
he years passed, I found myself praying you would be out there somewhere, just waiting for me to finally find you and that day finally came. I found you.”
“Yes, you did.” Her hand covered his.
“I wanted things to go differently of course, but it didn’t work out that way.” Dominic grimaced.
“Differently, how?” Izzy asked.
“I wanted to be your white knight and save you but I got beat out by a guy on a motorcycle.” Dominic smiled. Holding up his hands to stop Mountain’s tirade, he said, “You may be the man she loves but I am still her father. That you cannot take away from me.” He sat down and reached for her hands. “As your father, I want to give you the world. I want to make up for the fact that you didn’t live with me throughout your childhood. I want to give you now, what you should have had all along.”
Izzy shook her head. “But you don’t owe me anything.”
“As my daughter, you would have had everything you ever wanted,” Dominic stated.
Izzy shook her head. “I have everything I ever wanted right now.” She turned to Mountain. “I have the love of a good man, I have Boone in my life again, I have a baby in my belly that I can’t wait to meet and I finally, have a father and a family again. What more do I need?”
“You should have had money and power all your life,” Dominic informed her. “As my daughter, it was your birthright.”
Izzy searched her father’s face for a moment, then pulled her hands free. “I don’t want or need your money. I told you that before.”
“When your mother told me she was carrying my child, I started a trust fund for the baby. When she left me and you went missing after you were born, I left everything in place. Over the years, the trust fund has grown into a substantial amount. That money is yours. I want you to have it.”
“Dominic, I think she should take a DNA test to determine that she really is your daughter before you turn over the trust fund,” Ben Singer interrupted.
Izzy snapped her head around and frowned at the other man. “What?”
Ben nodded. “As his attorney, I’m advising him to do a DNA test. That would prove one way or another, whether you truly are his blood.”
Izzy got to her feet and began backing away from the table. Swinging her eyes over to Dominic, she couldn’t help that tears were welling up. “But I don’t want the money,” she whispered. “I never did.”
Ben snorted. “You’ll forgive me, but I don’t believe you. No sane person would turn down millions of dollars.”
Izzy turned to Dominic and shook her head. Turning around, she rushed into the kitchen.
~* * * *~
The three men could hear her sobs from the other room.
Mountain turned to Ben. “I think you’d better leave before I crack your smug ass face. You’ve outstayed your barely there welcome and I would advise you to NOT to come back. The next time you insult my woman, I will hurt you.”
Ben just stared at him for a moment, then turned to Dominic. Opening his mouth, he didn’t say a word when Dominic held up his hand.
“Maybe you should wait outside.”
Ben got to his feet and muttered, “Just don’t do anything stupid.”
Mountain got to his feet and made a move toward the other man. Ben skirted the table and headed for the door. When he escaped, Mountain turned toward Dominic. “You just crossed a line with Izzy. She may never forgive what you just did. You did the opposite of bringing her closer to you.” He turned and went to find her.
He found her in the living room standing by the window. Tears ran down her cheeks and she trembled when he pulled her into his arms.
He held her close for a few minutes before she began to speak, “All my life,” she whispered. “All I ever wanted was to belong somewhere. I thought Sonny and Roxi were my parents and that Boone was my brother. I knew Sonny and Roxi would never win parents of the year awards but I thought they were mine. I knew who I was back then.” She paused for a moment then went on, “When I found out they weren’t my real parents, I was so lost. I didn’t belong anywhere. I didn’t have a family, even the brother I loved more than I loved me wasn’t mine to claim.”
Mountain grabbed her and held her tight as he listened.
“When Mike turned me away from the hospital that night, I didn’t think I would survive. I didn’t know if I wanted to try. I was so alone. Then I found Melora. She was just like me, with no other person in the world looking out for her. I think we bonded because we had so much in common. She taught me so much about living on the streets and surviving with less than nothing. Being with her gave me purpose again. She taught me that I mattered to someone. I mattered to her.” She turned in his arms and looked at him for a moment. “I don’t know if you can understand what I’m trying to say but it’s kind of like the difference between a house and a home.”
Mountain frowned. “The difference between a house and a home?”
Izzy shrugged then explained, “Both are four walls and a roof, but that’s all a house will ever be, just four walls and a roof. Growing up with Sonny and Roxi that’s all I ever had, just those four walls and a roof. But when I lived with Melora we had those same four walls and a roof, well we did most of the time anyway, but the point is we had more than just the walls and a roof. We filled those walls with something more precious than I ever knew I needed. We filled those walls with laughter and love, hugs and joy. We filled those walls right up to the roof. Does that make any sense?”
Mountain smiled. “Yeah, I get it now.”
“Yeah…That’s what we have here, not a house but a home. Since I met you, you have filled my world with laughter and love, hugs and kisses and joy. You have given me so much joy, my walls are overflowing. You have accepted me for who I am, warts and all. You even brought my brother back to me. You have completed me.”
“What about your father?” Mountain asked.
Izzy shrugged. “I prayed that one day I would find my real parents. What kid doesn’t want to know where they come from? But when I found him I dared to hope I would be complete. All I ever wanted was to belong to someone. He spoke of my mother and I found myself hoping that she was really mine. The more I got to know Dominic, the more I fell in love with him. He filled a part of me I didn’t know was missing, with him I was finally whole again.”
“Then what’s the problem?” Mountain asked.
She gazed up at him with tears in her eyes. “What if the test proves I’m not his daughter?” she whispered. “What if I’m not the girl he’s searched for all these years? I don’t want to find out, because if I’m not that would rip a hole in my heart and soul that no one can heal.” She shook her head. “I can’t go back to being a nobody. I have to matter to him.”
CHAPTER THREE
“But darling, you do matter to…me,” Dominic assured her from the doorway. He had been listening to her explanation the whole time and it damn near broke his heart to hear her words. At this moment in time, he wanted to kill Benny Singer for what he put her through. He came into the room slowly, almost half afraid she would demand that he leave. When he came to stand next to her, he reached for her hands. He gazed into her eyes. “I know in my heart, you are my daughter. You are the spitting image of your mother, and that is good enough for me. God I loved that woman, I still do even though she’s been gone all this time. Your mother will always hold a special place in my heart, as do you.”
She sniffled through her tears
He brushed the hair away from her face and dried her tears with his thumbs. “I’m sorry I tried once again, to make you accept the trust fund. It’s just that I am so excited about finding you, I never took into consideration what you wanted. As your father, I want to give you the whole world. I want to lay heaven down at your feet. I want so much for you but I lost my chance to give you everything when I lost you so long ago.” Dominic sighed heavily. “I can’t make up for the past but I can be there for you in the future. I guess I’ll have to learn as we go.” He paused then as
ked, “Is there anything I can give you?”
Izzy nodded. “Yes, there is something that I want from you.”
“Name it and it’s yours,” he vowed.
“I would like something that belonged to my mother. It doesn’t have to be anything very big, just something that she cared about. Something for when I look at it, I know I have a little piece of her with me. Can I get that?”
Dominic smiled. Then he reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a ring. He gazed at it for a moment, then he put the ring on her finger. It didn’t surprise him to find it fit. “I gave this ring to your mother just before we were married. I didn’t tell her about the history of the ring but when she saw it, she cried. She loved that ring and when she died, she still had it on her finger. She’d taken off her wedding bands before she left me but she kept this ring.” Dominic raised her hand to his lips and kissed the place on her finger where the ring laid.
“What is the history of the ring?” Izzy asked.
“This is given to the eldest son’s wife and has been for six generations of Marconi men. It has been passed down for a couple of hundred years now and if you have a son, you will pass it along to his wife when its time.”
“But my son will not carry the Marconi name,” Izzy told him.
Dominic smiled. “I know but he will still have Marconi blood in his veins and as my grandson, he will be proud of where he comes from.” He looked at Mountain and smiled. Turning back to Izzy he asked, “Speaking of family, how is your brother settling in?”
Izzy smiled. “Pretty good, he can feel his legs now. We’re getting to know each other again and it’s almost as if we were never separated. I think all those years, I missed him the most.” She paused then had to ask, “What have you heard about Michael and Sonny?”
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