Miguel pauses. "She's been asking about you. About him. She wants to meet her great-grandson.”
"We'll be there," Lena promises.
Miguel looks at me. "You too. Abuela said the father of her great-grandson is welcome at her table. Even if he is Iron Talons."
"I'll be there," I say.
After Miguel leaves, it's just the three of us. Lena, Santiago, and me. The family I never planned on having and can't imagine living without.
"You kept your Presidency," Lena says.
"Seven to two. Ghost is gone. Tommy's VP now."
"And Miguel came."
"Your brother is complicated."
"That's one word for it." She holds out her arms. "Give me my baby. And then tell me everything."
I transfer Santiago carefully. She settles him against her chest with the competence of two days' practice, and I sit on the edge of her bed.
"Ghost challenged me. Called a vote of no confidence. Said I was compromised, weak, choosing you over the club."
"And?"
"And I told them choosing you makes me stronger. That having something to lose makes me more dangerous, not less. That the truce with Coyote Fangs is worth protecting. Seven brothers agreed. Two didn't. Ghost left."
"He'll be back."
"Probably. But not today. Today, I'm still President. You're still here. Santiago is perfect. That's enough."
She leans her head against my shoulder, careful not to jostle the baby. "What happens now?"
"Now we go home. To the house I rented for us. And we figure out how to do this—President and father, healer and mother, impossible family built from enemy clubs and wrong number texts."
"Sounds complicated."
"Everything about us is complicated."
"Think we can make it work?"
I kiss her forehead. "Angel, we've survived everything else. This is just the next impossible thing on the list."
Santiago makes a small sound, already falling back asleep. Two days old and already better at this than any of us.
My phone buzzes.
Tommy:Club is handled. Take the day. That's an order from your VP.
I silence my phone and settle in next to Lena and Santiago. The hospital bed is too small for all three of us, but we make it work.
We always do.
Outside, Phoenix burns under the desert sun. Ghost is planning his revenge. Miguel is trying to justify this to his President.Coyote Fangs and Iron Talons are one wrong move away from war.
But in this room, in this moment, we're just a family.
Broken and patched together and absolutely perfect.
