Finding Us (Pack Bardot Book 3)
Page 13
“Thank you,” she mouths, stepping aside so that I may now pass. I internally roll my eyes at myself. I may have grown a lot recently, but some things will never change. Steeling my spine, I walk towards my father with a confidence I in no way feel. His head snaps up as I approach, making my steps falter. Holy hell, he looks like he did die and then reanimated partially.
“Linden?” he croaks. My knees give out and just as I’m about to hit the floor, strong arms wrap around me and draw me back into a hard chest. Dax. I wanna curse him for not listening, but how can I when I need him more than air right now. Hearing my father’s voice, the tone of it something other than callous, makes me hurt all over. It’s been so long since I’ve heard it.
“Benjamin,” I force out, willing my eyes to stay dry.
“My little London Bridge,” he smiles sadly. “I’m so sorry.” His palm rests against the steel bars, reaching out but not really. He remembers. I swallow down the emotion clogging my throat.
“You look like shit,” I blurt out, then wince as Daria glares at me. Leave it to me to say something awkward. She wouldn’t be surprised if she’d had the time to really get to know me. My father laughs, the sound weak and morphing into a dry cough that makes my own chest ache.
“I feel like it too,” he shakes his head. “And more than just physically.” I have no idea what to say. That I forgive him? Because I don’t.
“I know I can never make it right,” he coughs again. “But maybe one day we could start over?” His eyes hold so much hope and I just don’t have the heart to crush it. Like Daria said, I might not feel all that forgiving today, but it doesn’t mean I won’t eventually.
“Maybe one day,” I nod, giving him more than I planned to when I came down here. “Take care of yourself.” I watch the hope in his eyes kindle into determination. My father stands, the act seeming to take every ounce of strength he has, and nods back. He’s always been a proud man, needing to stand tall and tower over all the little people so that he feels important. I don’t think that’s what this is, though. It feels more like he needed to pull himself up so that he could prove to me and himself that he’d find the strength to be the man he once was. And maybe to show Dax some respect, too.
“You too, baby girl.” I walk away, closing this particular door for now, but maybe not forever. I really do hope that one day I can have some sort of relationship with him, but a lot will need to happen before that can take place. Dax keeps his hand on my back as we exit the gym, his presence alone calming me, even though I don’t want to admit that he was right about me needing his support. That felt anticlimactic, but also like the perfect resolution for what I need right now.
“Just couldn’t stay away, huh?” I elbow him in the side as we walk home. He fakes a grunt, like I could actually do any damage.
“When it comes to you, Linny? I’ll never stay away,” he pulls us both to a stop, tucking a stray piece of hair behind my ear before placing a tender kiss against my lips. It’s the kind of kiss you get lost in. Time slows and you aren’t sure how long it’s been or even what day it is when you finally come up for air. I smile against his mouth. I wanna do this every day for the rest of our lives. I can hear Caulder and Chevy hurling insults at one another from where we stand, the house not even visible yet. I laugh, feeling oddly proud at some of the shit that’s coming out of LT’s mouth. The kid has no filter. Something crashes and the distinct, angry screech of a cat echoes in the silence that follows. Dax’s eyes widen in horror as he takes off in a run, muttering something about having cat for dinner.
I laugh, my heart so fucking full. It was running on reserves when we came to Pleasant Falls, but those days are gone. There’s so much ahead of us, and it won’t always be rainbows and unicorn farts, but it’ll be real. It’ll be us. This ragtag little family full of throwaways that the Bardot’s decided to love anyway.
Thank fuck for that.
Epilogue
Daxton - Five Years Later
Shortly after Linny’s twentieth birthday, we got married. I kept my word and swore in front of the whole pack and the big man upstairs that no unfrosted pop-tarts would ever have a place in our home. Not that they had before then. She would’ve tossed that shit in the garbage before it could even get put away. Our lives collided so fast and hard those first couple months, both of our pasts rearing their ugly heads, that the time since then has seemed painfully boring in comparison. But that’s just the way we like it. We’ve had enough excitement to last us a few lifetimes, so we take the calm where we can. Linny enrolled at the local tech school and earned her bachelor’s in social work last year. She chose that path because she wanted to make sure the vulnerable girls, and boys, never fell victim to anyone in this town ever again.
Her bias of Pack Ames has been hard to move past, and who could blame her. Especially after her father and Daria officially became members shortly after his recovery. I believe she’d said that it was sacrilegious for someone who shared her blood to be Pack Ames, but like always, after she’d had time to process and think it over, she agreed that their move was for the best. Her and Grace needed that distance to move on with their lives, and eventually, Linny was able to sit down and have a conversation with Benjamin that didn’t make her want to gouge his eyeballs out. Their relationship is still rocky, but I think it’s as close to mended as it’ll ever get. We make it a point to have dinner with them once a month and visit during holidays, but that’s about the extent of it.
Grace on the other hand, is a fixture in our home more often than not. She’s currently engaged to a contractor she met through her work, and they couldn’t compliment each other better. There is no relationship to speak of where her ex-husband is concerned. It took a good year for Benjamin's wolf to even tolerate being in the same room as Grace, but once he finally calmed down enough for them to speak, it was nothing more than a remorseful apology and a bittersweet goodbye. They haven't spoken since, and I think we all agree that it's for the best. Not really much else to be done in that sort of situation. Chevy, still my girl’s best fucking friend to this day, is off galivanting around Europe with his current boyfriend. A French guy that pisses me the fuck off when he talks because it makes Linny swoon. Turns out, he and Finn weren’t fated to be together. But they’re both happy and that’s all that really matters at the end of the day.
“Mama!” Caulder storms through the house, his voice squeaking a little. It’s changing, and I love giving him shit when it gets high like that. “That girl won’t leave me alone. She’s like mold, just keeps comin’ back,” he huffs in exasperation. Linny gives him that mom look that she’s perfected over the years, her hand pausing from where she’d been icing his cake. I sometimes think Ma and Grace actually gave her lessons on how to get the full effect.
“Caulder James, you best be nice. You know damn well she has a name. Raegan just wants to feel like she belongs and I swear to eight-pound, six-ounce baby Jesus if you make that girl cry...”
“Ookaaay,” Caulder stops her rant, pulling her in for a hug and a quick sniff. “Love you, soulmate,” he whispers, then runs back out to join the fifty-two hundred other kids in our backyard. She smiles and goes back to the cake. It’s our boy’s twelfth birthday party, and that blows my mind a little. The actual day is a bit later, but we have plans to go out of town for a mini getaway so we’re celebrating early. Not even a month after Minnie’s burial ceremony, Caulder sat us down and told us we were already his mom and dad, but he’d really like to make it official. There was a lot more legal jargon involved thanks to his Judge Judy days, but that was the gist of it. The day the adoption was finalized, I swear the sun shined a little brighter. Linny thinks it was Minnie’s nod of approval. Either way, I’d like to think that she’s found peace, and knows that our boy is loved and happy.
Ma and Pop finally arrive, going straight to my girl and completely forgetting that I exist, as per usual. I smile and shake my head. Lucifurr, who’s still kicking, scrambles across my feet. His claws
are like little knives and I swear the fucker does it on purpose. I hiss, abandoning my spot on the couch to them in the kitchen as Linny puts the finishing touches on Caulder’s cake. Pop hovers around her worse than I do, and that’s saying something. But the man is finally getting what he’s begged for since day one. Grandbabies. Linny’s seven months pregnant with boy-girl twins. My poor mate is all belly and I sometimes wonder how she doesn’t topple over. Gravity can only do so much. I wrap my arms around her waist and rub my hands over our babies.
Gracie Bea and Milo James.
Linny sighs and leans back against me, resting some of her weight on me. I know she’s ready for this to be over and will likely never let me knock her up again. Twins had been a shock to say the least. She’s so tiny that one baby would’ve been pushing it. It’s been a rough go of it but she’s almost at the finish line. And I’ll rub her feet every fucking night for carrying my kids. I take the cake from her and carry it out back. Once it’s safely on the table, Pop calls for everyone’s attention. Caulder’s made to sit front and center as we sing happy birthday to him. He looks like he wants to crawl under the table, but he’ll live. He’s made so much progress with his phobia of crowds and a lot of that credit goes to Linny. Both her and Caulder started seeing a therapist once things settled down and it’s helped tremendously. Raegan stands behind Caulder, his constant shadow. She’s only ten, but she’s determined to hang with the boys. The girl’s a firecracker, and she’s also Pack Ames. It took everyone a while to realize that they weren’t the same as they were under Jackson’s control. We’ve come a long way, but we’d been friends, as close as two packs could be, before their leadership was tainted with the likes of Jackson. Getting back to that place feels really fucking nice. Our kids won’t grow up with some ill placed vendetta and we won’t divide this town with our rivalry.
Linny sidles up beside me, the prettiest smile on her face. I throw an arm around her and kiss her temple.
“You happy, baby?” I whisper, grazing my lips over my mark that’s still just as visible as the day I made it. Her eyes shudder and she nods, her head falling against my chest.
“So fucking happy, Dax.”
Good, that means I’m doing something right. There’s a lot I wish we could’ve avoided, but it brought us here, to this moment. In all the bullshit, we were able to find us. Carve out our own little corner of the world and live as happily ever after as two people can.
~The End~
Acknowledgement
I cannot thank everyone enough for giving my books a shot or for the sweet words of encouragement that have been given! I'm so thankful I finally took the plunge and published. I can only hope to improve as I go, but writing this series was so much fun and a great learning experience. It was always meant to be a sort of palate cleanser. Something that was light-hearted and funny, but still had moments of realness. Life, especially right now, can be overwhelming. So, I hope you had some laughs and got to escape all the crazy for awhile. It's a wrap for Dax and Linny, but new content is on the way! For the latest information, please join my readers group.
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About The Author
M.K. Harper
M.K. Harper is a military spouse, just trying to escape life's chaos by getting lost in her own imagination. A mother of two and a full-time worker, writing has become a stress-relieving outlet. Currently settled in Georgia after three years of living in Italy, M.K. is always looking forward to the next adventure.
Books By This Author
Finding You - Pack Bardot Book 1
Finding Me - Pack Bardot Book 2