“And I love you,” he said.
We collapsed into the bed in a heap of naked kisses. When we finally finished, I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.
It was one of the calmest moments of my life. It was one of the most tender moments of my life. It was one of the most loving moments of my life.
It was the best moment of my life.
Epilogue, Part 1
One Year Later
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to join this man, Mason Jett, and this woman, Rachel Reid, in marriage.”
I held the hands of the woman that, one year ago, I never would have imagined was even still alive, let alone now about to be my wife. Hell, as I stood there, one year ago, I never would have imagined even I was still alive, or that I was even capable of falling in love, let alone getting fuckingmarried.
It still seemed surreal. I looked into the eyes of Rachel Reid, and no longer did I see a haunted, broken soul. I could still see the cracks, the lines that proved she was not an innocent doll who had never been touched. For both of us, we would always have the darkness of our past, and no amount of light could remove the shadows that we cast—in some ways, in fact, the more light we tried to shine on ourselves, the more obvious the shadows became.
But compared to the time before, when Rachel would not even leave her home for weeks on end, or when I believed that I would never find peace for what I had done to my family, shadows were a far better darkness to live with than the complete void that was emptiness.
When Rachel looked back at me in that moment, as the state officiant recited what he needed to, I wondered what she was thinking. We had had too many conversations—or, perhaps better said, Rachel had dragged me into too many conversations—for me not to know how she felt. But in a moment like this, I was curious. She was finally saying “I do” to a man who was just as capable of violence and darkness as those who had hurt her. Why me?
Because even though you are capable of great evil, you are also capable of great good.
The officiant asked me to grab the ring out of my pocket. I did so, and I used the moment as an excuse to briefly glance out over the audience. We did not have a large crowd by any stretch. In fact, we weren’t even gathered at a full church. We were literally tying the knot in the clubhouse of the Black Reapers.
Not that Rachel minded. In fact, she’d been the one to suggest it.What better way to show that these Reapers mean to keep the peace than to turn their clubhouse into a place of celebration?I had laughed at the idea at first, but when I mentioned it to Brock over beers, thinking he’d also laugh, he agreed to it immediately.
And speaking of. There he was, holding the hand of his woman, Tara Rogers. They were now married as well. Brock had not confirmed anything to the effect, but Tara had stopped drinking any and all alcohol for about a month. She kept saying she needed to be the DD, but I knew if she didn’t drink at a wedding, it all but told us why.
There was Steele, with Elizabeth clasping his hand in both of hers. Of all the relationships to work out—well, besides my sister’s—that was the one that confounded me the most. Steele had hated her, and she had hated him. Love really did work in mysterious ways.
Then there was Garrett, my sister, and my nephew. My sister and nephew, Charlie, looked so beautiful. Charlie was even starting to say his first words. And begrudgingly, I had to admit, Garrett was a good father, far better than I ever thought.
There were Katie and Connor. I had no fucking idea how Connor put up with Katie. But then again, it could probably be said it was unclear how Katie put up with Connor. Chalk it up to another “love is mysterious” relationship.
And Zack and Justine, finally. Justine deserved better than to be with your typical biker. She was too smart, too nice, and too certain for her to wind up with a Black Reaper. Which was why she probably wound up with Zack, the smartest among us.
But for as amazing as all of this was, I forgot about that entirely when I looked back into Rachel’s eyes after I slid the ring on her finger. That terrible incident over a decade ago might have been the inciting incident that made us band together, that made us vow to defeat the Bandits forever, but it was also the moment that brought us here. I would never say I was thankful for it, but I had to acknowledge that we probably wouldn’t be here without it.
“And now, we will share our vows. You may say, ‘I do,’ after I speak.”
I said “I do” when I needed to, but the words were just distant. Whatever the state officiant had created paled in comparison to the beauty I saw looking in Rachel’s eyes. Here was a woman that could forgive my past, that could see the good in me, that could see a future for us. Why did I need something as fucking boring as words when I had that?
Time flew by, but it also seemed to never end. For once, I was overjoyed that life moved slowly, for it gave me more time to look into Rachel’s eyes.
“…go on. You can kiss the bride.”
“Oh,” I said, drawing laughs as the Black Reapers realized I hadn’t paid attention to the words.
But when I kissed Rachel—without hesitation, without reservation, without fear that it might trigger something horrible—and heard the applause, when I felt her pull me into her, I didn’t give two shits what words I missed or what steps I did out of order. I had my wife. My fucking wife.
I never, ever, ever would have thought I could overcome myself to do it.
Love worked in mysterious ways.
We made a “mock walk” down the clubhouse to the front doors. At the entrance, Cole and his wife, Lilly, held open the doors. I nodded to him, showing my thanks. We didn’t see much of Cole anymore, for he had become both more active in caring for his son and in collaborating with his brother about larger missions, but we never forgot his role in our lives.
Quite literally, without him, there was no Black Reapers.
