Alive.
Their cries blend together, filling every shattered place inside me. I cry openly, clutching them close, my whole body trembling.My babies. Hurricane’s babies. His legacy. My storm-born twins.I laugh through the sobs, shaking my head. “God, they reallyarelike their father. Couldn’t just make a quiet entrance. Had to rampage in, loud and impossible.”
Because as I hold these babies against my chest, their cries filling the room, I realize something with absolute clarity. Hurricane isn’t gone. He’s here. In their eyes. In their voices. In me.
And we are going to be okay.
I sag back against the bed, drenched in sweat, tears streaking my cheeks. I’m emotionally spent, physically broken open, and yet, I’veneverfelt more whole.
“Look at them,” Ingrid whispers, awe in her voice as she strokes Trina’s cheek. “They’re perfect. Absolutely perfect.”
“Hurricane would’ve been over the moon,” Lani adds, gently touching Lynx’s tiny hand. “He’d be insufferable already, telling every person in a hundred-mile radius about his twins.”
I laugh, hiccupping through tears, because she’s right. I can see it, him pacing with his chest puffed out, snapping pictures every few minutes, already planning their first rides on a Harley.
And though the ache of his absence will never leave me, for the first time, I feel something stronger than grief.
Hope.
Suddenly, there’s a soft knock on the door, and Dr. Adams steps over to check. When she returns, she’s smiling. “There is an absurd number of bikers outside asking if they can come in,” she says with amusement. “I told them you need time to rest and clean up first, but they’revery…” she tilts her head, “… persistent.”
“Let them in,” I say without hesitation. “They’re family.”
And that’s exactly what they are.
Dr. Adams simply grins, knowing what Defiance is like. She shrugs and heads back to the door. When it opens, it’s like a dam bursting. Brothers, old ladies, and family members pour into the room, their faces full of joy, love, and wonder.
Bayou is one of the first inside, his eyes immediately finding the twins in my arms. When he sees them, his face crumples for just a moment before he regains control of himself. “Jesus, Kaia,” he breathes. “They look just like him.”
“They do, don’t they?” I reply, adjusting them so he can see better.
Bikers flood the space behind him, people filling every inch of the room as it loads with gifts, flowers, stuffed animals, baby clothes, enough supplies to stock a nursery three times over. And even though I am tired as all get out, I can’t help but smile and feel the love.
Everyone wants to touch them.
To hold them.
To be part of this moment.
Torque gets all misty-eyed when he holds Lynx. Hoodoo immediately starts making plans for their first medical training. City stands back and watches it all with that calm expression, but I catch him wiping his eyes when he thinks no one is looking.Pono is talking about their first trip to Hawaii. Sin tells me in no uncertain terms that Lynx is going to Las Vegas on his twenty-first birthday, and the guys are going to show him a‘good time.’
I don’t even want to think about that kind of stuff right now.
Toxin thinks she’s going to have Immy and Trina in training to be the next female patches into Defiance. My daughters can be anything they want to be, and that includes following in their father’s footsteps and becoming members of Defiance. I won’t stop them.
Other Defiance members continue making plans for my children, and I can’t help but feel whole.
I think I was holding a grudge these past few weeks.
Maybe that’s why I was hiding in my room.
Because I felt like I couldn’t face these people.
Because I felt like they took him from me.
But they didn’t.
Not really.
