He could never had imagined that their lives would come together the way they had. As the miles disappeared under their tyres, he felt genuine and untainted happiness. Once they got home, the rest of their lives would begin. As long as they had Bianca and each other, they could face anything that would come their way.
She was theirs, fully and forever.
Epilogue
3 Years Later….
Bianca
“I’m telling you we need a nursery!” Shel shouted at Prez as she cradled their new-born daughter.
Today was the first Fallen summer family barbeque at the compound. She sat gnawing on corn-on-the-cob, engrossed in the argument taking place right in front of her.
“We don’t need a fucking nursery. If you women would stop popping out kids every other month we would be fine. Let the kids go into the town’s nursery.” Prez insisted.
“Oh really. You’ll be happy to let our little girl go away from this safe compound right here, into a building with a bunch of children and parents you don’t know and who you can’t monitor?”
“Yes,” Prez said definitively.
“Okay, just say that to your daughter’s face. Tell her that you’re fine with her being away from you and with strangers who don’t like her daddy.”
She propped up the gorgeous little girl in her arms who couldn’t even support her own head yet. She watched as Prez’s stern expression melted as he looked as his baby daughter. Looking back at Shel, he huffed and walked away. Shel turned to them sat at the ‘old lady table’ and stuck up her thumb. She, Nicole, Chloe, Maybe and Jewel laughed and exchanged high fives.
“I looked into the statistics related to pre-school organisations in Virginia relative to the rest of the US. Although, they show children who attended state funded nurseries did comparably worse in the first two years of primary education compared to private institutions, the difference is nominal. If we implement a nursery into the neighbourhood, we’d be doing it for our own benefit, not necessarily the children’s.”
Slam’s old lady, Maybe, was such a geek and genuinely the loveliest person she’d ever met, yet quite possibly the most dangerous. They all loved her.
“So you’re saying you don’t think we should have our own nursery?” Nicole asked Maybe.
“Not at all. I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
They all exchanged confused looks, then dismissed their confusion that they all regularly felt around Maybe. Bianca looked around the backyard and smiled as she took in all the people who have come to mean the world to her. The three most important were striding towards her looking fretful. She massaged her baby bump, trying to relieve the itchy skin.
She only had two weeks until her due date and she was surprised that her Musketeers had left her alone for twenty minutes. They were expecting fraternal twins, a boy and a girl. The pregnancy had been easy and she’d loved every moment of their coddling. They were all so excited and the house was already half filled with baby stuff.
Bones gave her a quick kiss and rubbed her bump. “Stand up a minute, beauty. Let me put this cushion underneath you, it can’t be comfortable sitting on this bench.” He showed her the green couch cushion that they’d clearly gone all the way back to the house just to collect for her.
King and Digger gently pulled her up and Bones tucked the cushion under her ass.
“That better, love?” Digger asked, stroking her cheek and looking at her with sympathy, like she must have been suffering terribly without the cushion.
“I’m fine guys, I promise.”
Razor appeared behind them holding his seven-month old son. “Let the woman breathe. You three are are so close to her all the time, it’s like your trying to sit on her belly like an egg. The babies don’t need your asses keeping them warm,” he laughed.
King turned his head and aimed a very sinister look at him. Razor paled and slowly backed up before quickly walking away. “Cocky fucker,” he muttered under his breath. “Like he was any different when Chloe was pregnant with Wrath.”
Bianca pulled him to her and gave his face lots of sweet kisses until the redness left his skin as he calmed. They were on edge and it took nothing to set off their protective instincts. Digger moved and sat on the table directly behind her, letting her lean back into his embrace. Bones and King squeezed onto the bench on either side of her and rested their hands on her bump. She loved all their attention and never felt suffocated by it. It just made her feel adored and precious.
Prez stormed back into the yard and yelled, “Church.”
Her musketeers all quietly huffed and made their way inside along with all the other brothers.
She watched their progress. “I wonder what’s going on?” she asked out loud, knowing she wouldn’t get an answer.