“Love you too. I’m okay I promise.”
Squeezing her shoulder, I walk away and out the front doors of the hotel. Shaking a cigarette out of the pack, I light it up and inhale. A bike with two riders on is parked in the dark a little way from the hotel but with a clear view into the ballroom where Sam and Ally’s wedding reception is being held.
I’d know my daughter’s form anywhere, and I know for a fact that she’s the passenger on the back of that bike. I don’t recognize the man she’s with. It’s too dark, and they’re notwearing any identifying patches. I sense he’s there before he says anything, so I ask. “Is my daughter going to be all right?”
He hesitates before answering, “I don’t know.”
My heart thunders in my ears when he doesn’t confirm that Bella will be okay. It may break Maggie and me if something happens to Bella. And her brothers will go on a rampage.
“Is her sacrifice worth it?” I want to know.
“It is,” he assures me before continuing, “She’s been trained, she has help, and she knows what she’s doing. We’ve covered her as much as we can, but the honest truth is that what she’s doing is dangerous, and while we see a lot, we don’t see everything.”
“I don’t like it, and if something happens to her, then I’m not holding her mother and brothers back,” I inform him, turning towards him.
“Understood, and you won’t be the only ones taking revenge if something happens to her,” he assures me.
I turn back towards the road, but the taillights have long faded. When I turn back towards him, he’s gone.
“Fuck,” I whisper, raking my hand down my face and saying a brief prayer that my daughter is kept safe. I can’t tell Maggie what I found out tonight; she’s already worried sick and knowing that Bella is working for the Cursed Skulls will only add to that.
I send a brief prayer up to anyone that’s listening to please keep our baby safe.
It’s a long time before I’m able to go back inside. It was hard, but I kept what I knew to myself until I couldn’t anymore. My brothers, they knew something was up and pushed me until I caved and told them. By then, Christmas was upon us, and I knew it would be another one without our daughter joining us. Making a decision, I packed Maggie up, and we went to Zambia with Maura and Thor. When I told Gunny and Shep what I was planning, they bought tickets. It was just what we needed — time in the sun with our closest family members. I had a quiet word with Noni about wanting to spoil Maggie. And spoil her we did. By the time we left, she was glowing and smiling. Almost back to her old self. Not even the Christmas messages from Bella had set her back.
“Did you have a good time, gorgeous?” I ask, taking hold of Maggie’s hand and kissing the back of it as we take off from Dubai, where we’d caught our connecting flight to Heathrow.
Maggie turns her head towards me and smiles. Tugging on my beard to bring me closer to her, she kisses me before replying, “I had an amazing time honey. Thank you. I feel like a new person. I know it was you who arranged all the pampering that I got.”
“You deserve it, Maggie. You’re the best of the best. Love you to the depths of my soul.”
“Oh Robert,” Maggie caresses my cheek. “I feel the same. I’ll do better. We know that she’s alive and that’s all that matters. All we can do is hope and pray she makes it back to us. I’ve decidedthat I can’t change anything and worrying is making me sick so I’m going to let fate do what needs to be done and we’ll either pick up the pieces or we’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
Jesus, this woman.
I run the back of my hand down her cheek as always amazed at her strength.
“Okay, gorgeous, we’ll do that. Now, have you checked out the menu? This flying first class is fucking awesome. I’m never going back to economy after this. It’s probably just as well Bella’s good at making us money even if she’s not with us.”
Maggie bursts out laughing and rests her head against my shoulder. Gunny and Shep look over at her laugh, and I can see the relief in their eyes that Maggie’s happier.
I think we’d have to make it a yearly holiday and spend Christmas with Noni, Bull, and the Crowthorne chapter every year. The sunshine had been good for us.
MAGGIE
Iknow that Dog’s worried about me. Scratch that; they're all worried about me. They’ve all checked in on me over the last two years. Hovering and making sure I know that I’m not alone. They all love me. I know this, but that doesn’t fix the ache I have in my chest — that one of my chicks is out there somewhere alone. It’s the same ache I carried when my boys were in the military; I just hid it better back then.
I’m not sure what happened at Sam and Ally’s wedding, but Dog came back in from his smoke and declared we’d be going to visit Bull and Noni for Christmas. Everyone was on board for that, and before I knew it, tickets were booked, cases were packed, and we were on our way.
It was exactly what I’d needed. That and spending time with another of my girls. Because while Noni might not be mine byblood, I’d raised her along with Kate. It was good to see her happy after so many years of sadness. I’d been sitting on the swing on the long veranda that ran along the length of the hotel watching the men and kids play in the pool. Kate, Bev, and Maura were lying on sun loungers catching the last of the late afternoon sun. I’d come back from my afternoon pampering session and decided that I didn’t feel like sitting in the sun and had chosen the swing, shade and an ice-cold G&T. Life was very close to perfect right now.
The swing dips and starts to sway as Noni sits next to me and lays her head on my shoulder.
“Hi, Aunt Maggie. How are you doing?”
Turning, I press my lips to Noni’s bright red curls. “I’m okay sweet girl, thank you for having all of us for Christmas.”
Noni tilts her head up to look at me and smiles. She’s happy; I can read it clearly in her eyes. “Of course, I’m glad you all made it. I’d have you every year if you could all make it. I miss you all so much.”
