I don’t have any window coverings out there, so sleeping in the sunroom would most definitely give the locals a show.
“I want to fuck you in every room in this house,” I tell her. “But I’m not sure how much sleep we’d get in the sunroom. Sunrise, no blinds…”
She snuggles closer to me, then lifts her face for a kiss. “How soon till we can start?” she asks.
I lift my brows at her. “Start…”
“Fucking,” she whispers. “If we plan to cover every room…”
I stand from the couch, take her hand, and blow out the candles. “Let’s start upstairs,” I say.
20
Violet
One year later…
The doorbell rings, and I pad through the house in my bare feet to answer it. I open the door to a huge bouquet of balloons and a teddy bear.
“Ivy?” I scream, knowing there is no one in the world who could be behind this wall of happiness except my sister.
“Violet.” Ivy hands the bouquet of balloons to my dad, who is standing behind her.
Ivy launches herself into my arms and squeezes tight. “Okay, I love you, congratulations, and all that shit. Now, where is my nephew?”
I motion behind me. “Shadow is feeding him. Go on in.”
I hug my parents hard and thank them for everything they are about to do. I start giving them instructions before we’re even in the house.
“Baby.” My mom strokes my hair and smiles. “It’s your wedding day, and you don’t exactly look like you’re ready. Let’s get you dressed. We’ll have plenty of time to go over the instructions before you leave. Now, where’s Johnny?”
My parents adore Shadow. Like, adore him as much as I do. I never realized how much my father loves cars and talking mechanics with someone. As a guy who never had any sons, he’s formed a really close bond with Shadow. They don’t like to call him by his biker name, but it’s not that they disapprove.
Ivy loves it and won’t call him anything but Shadow. She’s even gotten into the hierarchy of the club.
She graduated college in May and has been renting a place in Tampa to be close to her nephew. Mom and Dad traveled down once a month while I was pregnant, but they are talking about moving to Florida to be closer now that little Johnny is here.
I’m just about to close the door when I see another car pull into the drive, and the occupants are out of the car before the dust has even settled.
I step out onto the gravel in my bare feet and open my arms. “Daphne. Gary.”
Shadow’s mom walks on low heels across the drive to meet me. As soon as we’re in hugging distance, we grab each other and hold on.
When I went into labor two weeks late, Daphne was the only one who could get here fast enough to drive me to the hospital. Shadow was about an hour south of Tampa, working on something for the club, but his mom was able to make it in ten minutes. Gary drove us to the hospital, while Daphne sat in the back seat, holding my hand and video calling my mom so she could see me before her first grandson arrived.
“Hi, gorgeous.” Daphne hugs me close. She is a stunning woman, in fantastic shape, and looks more like a Hollywood actress than the mother of a full-grown man. Shadow stopped buying his mom groceries after we told them I was pregnant. Instead, he and I go over every other week to have dinner with his mom and her husband, Gary. “Is your mom here yet?”
My mom and Daphne have become as close as sisters. Since Daphne and Gary live just up the road on the same river as this house, I see them almost every day. Daphne will stop by after work to check in on me, give me time to shower or nap while Shadow is off with the club. She makes a special effort to include my mom in every visit.
It’s all weirdly working out way differently—and way better—than I’d ever imagined.
Daphne and Gary hustle off to find Mom and the baby, and I’m barely able to close the door before the first van, with the club members and their women, arrives.
“Party bus.” Jackie is the first off the van, and I shake my head. She looks lovely in her plain black dress, even though we told everyone to just wear jeans or casual clothes.
We got married last summer before little Johnny was born, in a courthouse ceremony with just our parents, Ivy, and Phantom. This is a vow exchange, a small commitment ceremony that our friends insisted we have. Since I was enormous and still miserable with morning sickness—which did not end just because I was happy, having great sex, and no longer in the first trimester—Shadow and I didn’t take a babymoon. Now that little Johnny is three months old and I’ve pumped enough to feed him through the weekend, my parents and Ivy are going to stay here and care for the baby for two nights while Shadow and I go stay at a local resort for some pool time, massages, and uninterrupted sleep.
Well, our sleep will probably be pretty darned interrupted. Since I am clear to have sex again, I’m thrilled to have a couple of nursing-free hours to sleep with my husband—in every possible way.
