CHAPTER ONE
DUCHESS
FIRST MONDAY OF FEBRUARY
“You are seriously a lifesaver, sis.” Angel looks at me over her shoulder as she wrestles with her son Taren to put his shirt on.
At four-and-a-half, Taren is not only the spitting image of his dad, dirty blonde hair and caramel brown eyes, but he also has the grumpiness and stubbornness of him too. Hammer has been a force of nature since they day I met him, so I wouldn’t expect anything less from his kids.
“You’d do the same for me if I was in your shoes.” I pick up her second son and set him on my lap.
Ace is the middle of the three boys at one-and-a-half and is by the sweetest of my nephews. He loves anyone who will pick him up, hold him, or play with him. I will never admit to having favorites when it comes to my family members, but between me and him, I will always take Ace and auntie snuggles whenever he asks. I hope he loses his sweetness, no matter how big he gets. He also is just two days younger than my son Krew, so the closeness in age, along with them being best buddies, has made us closer as well.
“In a heartbeat.” With Taren finally dressed, sans the shoes he refuses to let his mom put on, Angel points to the small table in the corner of the exam room we’re in at the clinic. “Go play please.”
“Do you wanna go play with your brother?” I playfully growl in Ace’s ear, causing him to giggle.
Seeing the colorful wooden blocks that his older brother is stacking, Ace wiggles in my arms so I let him down. He’s off in a flash, snuggle time in the rear view mirror.
“Two down, one to go,” Angel sings as she lifts my youngest nephew out of his stroller. At just over seven months, Hayes is not only her youngest, but also the youngest baby in the entire Rebel Vipers MC family.
It’s crazy to think that in the almost two-and-a-half years that I have been with Whiskey, there have been eight babies born in the club, including my Krew, who is also one-and-a-half. There are also numerous other older kids as well, Taren for example, but the wave of babies lately has been nothing short of insanity at times.
“How did you manage to schedule one appointment for three kiddos to see two different doctors?” I ask as I pull my hair up into a high ponytail.
Why I left the house without it already up, I’m not sure, but I must have been feeling brave. It probably was because mymorning routine was thrown for a loop when Angel called me for help. She had forgotten that her boys all had wellness checkups at the doctor today, so she needed another set of hands. Hammer, Angel’s husband slash Old Man, has been out of town for a few days on a run for the club and doesn’t get home until tonight, so Auntie Duchess came to the rescue.
Oh, that’s right! My phone rang just as I was getting Krew dressed, so I hustled through finishing getting ready . . . hence my hair not being restrained in its usual updo.
“Ever since Hayes was born, I refuse to make three separate appointments. I would probably be here every other week if I did that,” Angel chuckles as she tickles Hayes’s belly. “So when I brought this little man in for his first checkup, and I realized the other two were due for their s-h-o-t-s soon, I insisted that the receptionist find us one time slot. I don’t care that Hayes has a different doctor until he turns one and gets bumped to the big kid doctor, I bring them all together so it’s less trips and less tears and less stress on me.”
“Sounds like they’re pretty used to that around here.”
“They are. We see Doctor Michaels for Taren and Ace, then Doctor Pearlman for Hayes.” Hearing his name, Hayes starts kicking up a storm and starts babbling. “But this will be your last time seeing the infant doctor, right my little soccer star. Your next time here will be to see the big boy doctor with your brothers. Isn’t that right?”
His only reply is to blow bubble filled raspberries as he continues to kick.
“Hopefully Hammer will be home next time.”
“From your lips to the biker god’s ears.”
It’s a good thing for times like this that we, and various other family members, all live so close together. When last minute things pop up, having a majority of us living on the club’scompound has gotten all of us out of a pickle a time or two. Family helps family.
My Old Man slash husband, Whiskey, had already left for the day for work at the club-owned recycling and salvage yard he runs, so I needed to call in my own back-up for the day. That’s where my amazing mother-in-law came to my rescue. I called Blue and she hustled over to watch my boy while I help my sister with her three.
Blue, who is Whiskey’s dad’s wife slash Old Lady, is also his aunt. Crazy but long story-kind of-short, Whiskey’s mom left when he was about two, so his dad, Mountain, raised him with help from the club until he was ten. One day, Blue showed up at the clubhouse looking for her older sister who she hadn’t seen since she was in her teens, only to be told that she had left and passed away a few years before. Crazy as it sounds, Mountain and Blue fell in love instantly and they were engaged three days later. And now, twenty-three years later, she is the grandmother to my son and countless other club family kiddos who call her BeeGee.
“Whooowee. This one has the worst smelling poops I have ever smelled.” Angel lays him on the exam table and blows out a breath as she unsnaps Hayes’s onesie. “Can you grab me a diaper and the wipes from the backpack please?”
I stand up and walk over to the bag, which is in a chair across the room, and grab what she needs. As soon as I step beside Angel to hand them over, I get a whiff of the smell she described and almost lose my breakfast.
“Holy crap.” I cover my mouth and have to turn away. “What are you feeding him?”
Knock knock.
“Come in,” Angel calls out.
The second nurse of the day walks in. “Hi, ladies and little gents. I’m Cammie. I’m one of the pediatric nurses and will be getting Hayes’s vitals before the doc comes in. Is that okay?”
