by Cee Bowerman
“True,” Lout laughed. “Kari is a force to be reckoned with. Add Sarah to the mix and those two could take over the world.”
“I’ve already sent Kari a text. She and Sarah are both meeting us at Sam and Carlie’s house in just a little bit so that we can iron out the details,” I told the two. “We’ll get word to you about when and where as soon as we know something.”
“You guys go ahead and I’ll have Reagan bring the girls to you there when they’re finished,” Marcus told me. “I need to wrangle those boys of mine and spend some quality Lego time.”
“Thanks for your help, Marcus,” Sierra smiled and stuck her hand out to shake his. He laughed and shocked her by pulling her in for a hug.
“Alright, Cocoa, let’s head to the house before the little ones have Emerald pulling out that hair I worked so hard on yesterday,” Willow smiled and hugged first Sierra and then me. “Welcome to the family, Sierra. I’ll get in touch with you soon and invite you over to a child-free girl night at Mom’s house as soon as you two get settled. You can dish the dirt on this hottie you've got here.”
“Get in the car, perv,” Lout said as he pretended to push Willow away. He shook my hand before he followed his wife to the front door. As he held it open for her, we could hear him say, “We’re going to stop somewhere and have a little alone time before we head back to the minions. I need a little vanilla sweetness.”
“Those two,” Marcus shook his head. “I’ll talk to you guys later on in the week and I’ll take care of all the other details while you’re gone.”
We walked out the front door just as Lout and Willow roared off on their motorcycle and I saw Sierra watch them until they turned at the end of the block.
“They’re both so sweet,” Sierra told me as I opened the door for her. “Your friends are so nice.”
I shut the door and just shook my head as I walked around the truck. I’d have to tell Lout that my wife thought he was sweet. He’d get a good laugh out of that one.
9.
SIERRA
“Do you hear that?” Carlie asked as she leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling on the sunporch of Lisa and Zeke’s house where we were having our first ‘planning meeting’ about the wedding. “It’s so quiet.”
Kari laughed at her as she refilled her shot glass with more tequila.
“The terrible twos are going to kill me,” Carlie moaned.
“The threenager stage is worse,” Lisa complained. “Brighten looked at me the other day and said, ‘Woman, don’t even think about it.’ Kale had to feel some pain with the vibes I was sending his way.”
“He would have just laughed at you and high-fived her behind your back,” Kari told her sister-in- law. “Now, stop bitching and get to drinking. We’ve got a wedding to plan.”
Sarah pushed a spiral notebook in front of me and handed me a pen.
“Answer the questionnaire, please, ma’am,” Sarah said in what could only be described as her customer service voice and smiled sweetly at me. “We’ll get you set up and married in a flash.”
“A questionnaire?” I asked as I looked down at the paper in front of me.
“Things like sizes, favorite colors, favorite flowers - all the important shit. I’ll need you to list your second and third choice on some of those since we’re under a time crunch.”
“You’d be much better off to just fly to vegas like Zeke and I did,” Lisa told me. “Carlie and Sam did the same thing the weekend after us. We watched each other’s kids.”
“Rowdy wants me to meet everyone. He said I’ll feel safer that way.”
“That’s a nice gesture. He wants you to feel comfortable,” Kari shrugged. “He doesn’t understand how hard it will be to go from constantly looking over your shoulder and keeping your head down so no one notices you to being in front of a crowd where everyone knows your name.”
“Exactly,” I agreed. “He said he was going to invite his close friends and family, so I’m not sure why we need the dress and the flowers. It’s probably going to be just you guys and his dad, really.”
“Oh, no, honey,” Carlie laughed. “That’s not how this works at all. The entire club will be there with kids and wives in tow. So will the Texas Kings and their families. That covers Rowdy’s idea of friends and family. He might even invite some other people, too, like Nicole and the others from the shelter.”
“Most definitely Nicole,” Rowdy said from the doorway behind me causing me and Sarah to both jump. He stuck his hand out to Sarah and handed her a sheet of paper, “Here’s a list of other people besides both clubs. You know how to get in touch with all of them already.”
“Once we settle on a time and place, I’ll get in touch with Bird’s wife, Summer. As the club president’s wife, she’s got a system in place already. Of course, if Carlie and Lisa would take over, I could teach them how to do all that, but no,” Kari drawled with an eyeroll. “They just leave it to me.”
“You’re the princess,” Carlie shrugged with a smile. “No sense in dethroning you.”
“Piss off,” Kari flipped off her sister-in-law.
I laughed softly, guessing that this was a long-standing argument.
“We have to put up with your brothers,” Lisa shrugged. “The least you could do is run things to make up for that hardship.”
“Hardship my ass,” Sarah growled. “You two still can’t keep your hands off each other. I know that was you two in the storage room at the clubhouse that night.”
“La la la la,” Kari said loudly with her hands over her ears.
I laughed again, this time along with everyone but Kari. Rowdy leaned down and kissed me on the lips.
“Reagan called and he’s on his way with the girls,” Rowdy said quietly. “Why don’t we get them and then run to your place so you two can pack a bag for our trip?”
I smiled and nodded, a blush taking over my cheeks at his nearness. He dropped another soft kiss on my lips and turned around to walk back into the house.
“Please tell me that his ass looks that good even without the faded jeans,” Sarah whispered. “I’ll hate you, but I really want to know.”
I glanced over at Carlie and Lisa and they were both leaning closer to me waiting to hear my answer.
“It’s fantastic,” I whispered, remembering how I watched him walk from the bed to the bathroom in only his boxer briefs. “Like a sculpture.”
All three women sighed in unison and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Yeah,” Sarah drawled. “Now I have to hate you.”
◆◆◆
“Okay, Mom,” Lexi was standing in the doorway of my room in our apartment, her hands crossed over her chest as she stared at me. “What’s going on?”
“I told you,” I said, exasperated that she wasn’t packing like I’d told her to do twice already. “We’re going to stay at Rowdy and Leia’s house tonight and then head out of town tomorrow.”
“Are we running?” Lexi whispered.
“No, baby,” I said softly and smiled as I turned to look at my daughter. “We’re not running. We’re not going to run anymore.”
“How can you know that?”
“Things are changing for us, sweetheart,” I told her as I pulled her into my arms. It squeezed my heart when her head was too high for me to rest my chin on it like I had done just a week or so ago. God, she was growing up so fast it scared me. “Rowdy and I will talk to you and Leia about it this evening, but first we have to get packed for our trip and then he has something at his house he wants to show you.”
“Is he your boyfriend now?” Lexi asked as she pulled back to look into my eyes. I didn’t think I was lying to her when I nodded. She must have believed me because her eyes got wide and she whispered, “Really?”
“Yeah, baby,” I nudged her toward the door. “Go get your things you’ll want for the trip. Gather up a book or two and some stuff to draw and write on and I’ll be in there to help you pack your clothes in just a few minutes.”
“I lik
e him, Mom,” Lexi told me. “Leia said that he’s the greatest dad ever and his eyes are soft, you know?”
“I know, sweetie. Now get moving!”
Lexi scurried out of my room and I turned to open my dresser drawer and gather up underwear for the next week. I dug past the everyday stuff that I had and went to the special occasion underwear that I had bought years ago and never worn.
I thought about what Lexi had said about Rowdy’s eyes. She was right. They were soft. Until we started kissing and then they turned into melted chocolate. Lexi’s father’s ice blue eyes were so different from Rowdy’s.
When we had laid in bed last night, kissing and touching each other all over, his dark brown eyes were so warm that I just couldn’t look away. And that scar on his lip still gave me the shivers. For some reason, I found it so sexy the way his grin was lopsided because of that scar. And when he pulled away from our kiss and grinned at me? I got a rush at the memory and realized that I was so turned on that I wanted to shut my door and take care of the problem really quick rather than deal with this longing for the rest of the night. Hell, probably the rest of the week considering we would have our kids with us 24/7.
“Mom, should I take my pillow?” Lexi interrupted my steamy thoughts just in time.
“Yes!” I yelled back at her. “And run down and grab Leia so she can help us carry things. If she’s with us, we might make it in one trip.”
“I’ll be right back!”
I pulled a handful of the pretty underwear, all matching panties and bras, out of the drawer and stuffed it into the corner of my suitcase before I rushed to the bathroom to grab some necessities.
Once I was finished, I hurried into Lexi’s room, marveling at how clean it was compared to Leia’s that I had seen earlier today. I chose enough t-shirts, jeans, and underwear to last her more than a week and then took them and put them into my suitcase with my things.
Through the years, I had gotten good at packing on the fly. Even though it had been less than half an hour since I’d left Rowdy and his daughter downstairs in the truck, Lexi and I were both ready to go.
I heard the girls laughing outside the door as I dragged our suitcase down the short hall and into the living room.
“Hi, Sierra,” Leia gave me a little wave as if she hadn’t seen me today and I smiled at her.
“Hi, honey,” I picked up mine and Lexi’s pillows along with an overnight bag that had our toiletries in it and handed it to Leia. “Can you carry this down for us?”
“Sure,” Leia took the stuff from me and I saw that Lexi had her backpack loaded up with things to do during the car trip and still carried four books in her arms. I handed Leia a grocery sack full of snacks for the road and then walked behind them out the front door. “Dad said he’s sorry he can’t come help, but he’ll meet us at the downstairs gate.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” I told Leia. “The rules say that non-residents can’t come in, but since you’re Lexi’s friend you get a pass.”
“Is it to protect you from something?”
“My uncle,” Lexi shuddered. “He’s the villain from every movie all wrapped into one person.”
“Oh,” Leia’s eyes were wide. “Where’s your dad?”
I listened to the girls as we walked down the stairs and it hurt my heart to hear Lexi be so nonchalant about her lack of family.
“He died before I was born. And his parents were crazy anyway. That’s why my uncle is such a bad man. My mom’s parents aren’t nice either, so I don’t have any contact with them.” Lexi told her. “I was named after my real dad, though.”
“What was his name?”
“Alexander.”
“I was named after my dad’s crush from a movie,” Leia groaned. Then she did a perfect imitation of the character when she said, “You’re my only hope.”
“Our names fit together though,” Lexi pointed out. “Maybe our parents can have some more kids and make their names like ours so we all match.”
“I like Lana,” Leia put in her vote. “I can’t think of any others though.”
“I brought stuff to write on, so we can make a list while we’re in the car.”
“Oh, I know - Lisa!” Leia said excitedly.
“Yeah, but what about a boy's name?” Lexi said as we walked out of the gate.
Rowdy watched the two girls walk past him toward his truck and looked at me, confused.
“They’re naming our future children.”
“Don’t we get to do that?”
“Have children?”
“Well, yeah, but I mean shouldn’t we get to pick the names?”
“You want to start over and have a baby around again?”
“I’ve put some thought into it. By the time we get to know each other and then decide to go for it, we’ll have two children on hand that are the perfect age to babysit. It will be so much different than when the girls were born and we were both alone.”
“If we wait at least two years, they’ll only be 13. Isn’t that a little young to babysit?”
“I did it 24/7 at 14, so I don’t think so,” Rowdy laughed. “They’d probably be much better at it than I was anyway.”
I was terrified at the thought of having another baby and I told him so.
“It’s not set in stone, Sierra. We’re just joking about it right now. You might never want another one and that’s okay, too. Right now, let’s just worry about the two we’ve got.” Rowdy put the suitcase down by the truck and put his hands on my shoulders so that I had to look up into his face. “You and I will both have to get used to having someone else that we can depend on. It’s not just you that’s terrified right now.”
“It’s not?” I asked him. “You seem so sure of what we’re doing.”
“Fake it ‘til you make it, sweetheart. Let’s just take it one hurdle at a time for now,” Rowdy leaned down and kissed me softly, but it wasn’t enough for me. I leaned into him and wrapped one hand around his neck to hold him to me as I put every emotion I had running through me into my kiss.
“We need to talk about birth control,” Rowdy whispered in my ear as he pulled me into his arms. “I need to stop by the pharmacy.”
“I’ve got my pills with me, so I’m protected that way,” I told him honestly. “But I’d like for both of us to get checked out before we do anything without protection.”
Rowdy nodded. “I understand that. I’ve had to deal with the fallout of unprotected sex and that shit was painful.”
“I know I don’t have anything or my doctor would have told me after my last exam a few weeks ago, but I know you’ve probably got some trust issues about things like that. Kari is going to call them for me tomorrow and get an appointment set up for Friday.”
“Thank you,” Rowdy smiled. “You already understand some of my quirks. I called my doctor, too, and I go in to see him on Friday at three.”
“So, if we leave early in the morning, can we get all the way to Austin?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Rowdy hefted my suitcase up into the bed of his truck. He was driving his own four-door truck today rather than the tow truck he had used when we had been with him yesterday. “I’ve already called and reserved rooms for us at the hotel. The girls room will be connected to ours with a bathroom in between.”
“What time will we need to head out of town?” I asked him as he opened the door for me.
“The county clerk's office opens at 8:30. We can be there the second they open and get our license and then hit the road.”
“Oh, yeah,” I laughed as I stepped on the running board to get into the truck. “I never even thought about a marriage license!”
“Marriage license?'' Both girls screamed from the backseat.
“You handle that one, I’m going to take my time walking around to my side of the truck,” Rowdy said right before he shut my door.
I listened to the girls screaming excitedly as I watched Rowdy creep around the hood of the truck. He paused and inspected a spot on the hoo
d for at least ten seconds before he pulled the hem of his shirt up and buffed the paint. He started moving again, syrupy slow, and glanced up in the cab and saw me glaring at him. He laughed so hard he had to brace himself against the truck, all the while the girls were questioning me at top volume from the backseat.
I kept watching him slowly creep around the truck as I answered the girls questions.
“Yes, we are getting married, it’s next weekend, you'll both be in the wedding, you’ll both have pretty dresses to wear, I’ll put a little makeup on both of you, I’m not pregnant, Lexi and I will be moving into the house with you guys,” and then I paused when the last question from Leia hit me. “And yes, Leia, you and Lexi will be real sisters and I’ll be your mom now.”
Rowdy opened his door just in time to hear me say that last sentence and he stepped back when both girls screamed in excitement. He decided to join in and yelled at the top of his lungs while he did a little dance in the open door. I laughed at his antics while I appreciated his natural rhythm.
The dirty part of my mind thought that the way he moved his hips boded well for my future while the good girl inside of me was just glad to see he had rhythm and wouldn’t embarrass me during our first dance at the reception.
◆◆◆
ROWDY
The girls excited screams pushed me back out of the truck, but when I realized just what Sierra had said, I felt like I should join in on their happiness, so I started to dance around a little bit with my own joy.
I heard Sierra laughing at me and I didn’t care. I was happy. I was also relieved that I was hopefully putting any chances of Beverly getting to see my daughter to rest and glad that I could help Sierra with her problem at the same time.
I waited until the girls had calmed down just a little bit before I stepped up into the truck and got behind the wheel. Before I buckled myself in, I leaned across the console and pulled Sierra toward me with a hand behind her neck. I kissed her soundly, not even caring that the girls in the back had fallen silent as they watched us.
When I let Sierra go, she was flushed and out of breath and I let my ego absorb that for a second before I got down to business.
