Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72822 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 364(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 243(@300wpm)
Cobie smiled, and I knew then that I’d be going to the jewelry store tomorrow.
I needed to buy this woman a ring and get it on her finger. Once she accepted it, I’d make sure she never forgot how much I loved her every day for the rest of our lives.
And she would accept it.
I’d make sure of that, too.
***
Cobie came down the stairs long minutes later, and she smiled the moment she saw Mary.
“Mary, Mary!” Cobie cooed, holding out her hands for Mary.
Mary ditched me like a piece of burnt toast, squealing when Cobie brought her into her arms.
“That’s adorable,” my mother whispered.
I lifted my arm and wrapped it around my mother’s shoulders.
“It is,” I agreed.
We stayed silent as we listened to the two of them chatter on and on about this and that. Half of the words I wasn’t even sure that Cobie even understood, but she didn’t let on.
She nodded her head, held eye contact, and then laughed.
My mother patted my belly.
“Are you going to make an honest woman out of her?”
My mother didn’t miss much.
Certainly not a pregnancy that would bring her another grandchild.
“Yeah,” I confirmed. “As soon as she’ll accept me.”
My mother patted my belly one more time. “Honestly, Dante. You are one of the cutest boys. You have nothing to worry about.”
I snorted, and the movement caused my back to twinge.
Cobie looked over at me, gestured toward the living room, and I nodded.
I swallowed as I tried not to think about the pain I was still in, and instead focused on my mother.
“I’m sorry.”
My mother stepped away from me and looked up.
“What for?”
“I spent a long time in a place that I wasn’t sure that I could dig myself out of. I’m sorry that you had to suffer losing me, too.”
My mother’s eyes filled with tears, and I instantly saw the wariness. She looked older than her years, and I wondered when that had happened.
Probably when I was busy pushing everyone away.
“Honey,” my mother said. “I’ve suffered a lot of loss in my life. I’ve lost your sisters. A daughter-in-law. Three grandchildren. But I still have the man that is the other half of my soul. I still have six of my kids. I still have a lot of grandkids, and now some new daughters, thanks to your brothers marrying. I know that you had to fight your own battles. I knew it, and I understood it. You were there when we needed you most, and that was enough until you were ready to come back to me. But the three months that you were gone? I don’t want to feel like that again. So, if you could, try not to let that happen again, m’kay?”
I winked at my mother. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She patted my cheek. “Now, I’m going to go spend some alone time with your father. We haven’t had a kidless bed for a few very long months.”
I tried not to think about what they were going to do in that kidless bed as I said my goodbyes.
But I was glad that I’d apologized. I’d needed to do that for a while now, and I wasn’t going to put off any more apologies. I never knew if today would be my last.
Which was why tomorrow I’d be proposing to that woman in my living room. I wanted to make her mine.
Because tomorrow may not dawn as bright as today did.
And I didn’t want to regret a damn thing when the day was over.
Chapter 24
I’m lacking the ‘zippity’ part of my doo-dah day.
-Dante to Cobie
Dante
We were at another Uncertain Saints MC party.
I was asked to attend this one because it was one of the Little Saints birthday parties.
I’d avoided those parties like the plague because every single one of those motherfuckers were now married with kids. I’d gone the last time with Cobie on a whim. I’d been in no mood to deal with anyone or anything after that conversation with the stupid chick in the diner.
So, I just went for a ride. I found myself taking a familiar route, and I wound up at the Uncertain Saints clubhouse. A place that I never thought I’d willingly end up at ever again.
One of their members had been married to my sister.
And I’d hated him.
I’d hated him with a passion because he’d been in the process of divorcing my sister when she was killed. Though, my dislike of the man had died down after Wolf had found his new wife, Raven.
Raven had been the deciding factor in me trusting the man again, and while we hadn’t become exactly close, I could at least tolerate him now.
In the past, the Hail House—our club that we’d opened a few years back—was off limits to them. After Wolf, Travis and I had repaired the breach between us, we’d gotten to the point where we now hung out with them occasionally—or at least Travis did. I hadn’t had much to do with them seeing as not long after that breach was healed, my wife and children had died.