I shrugged, tucking my hands into the pockets of my gray sweats. “Nobody important.” I sighed.
Jedd blew out all the air in his chest and looked out over the yard. “Another day closer.”
“Sure is.”
“You ready for it?” he asked, turning back to me.
“I think I’ve been ready for this my whole life, I just didn’t know it for a very long time.”
Jedd’s grin grew slowly. “What was life like before she came into this family? I can’t remember.”
“Who knows? All I remember is being angry with everyone all the time. Thinking hurting others would take away the pain in my own chest. Life was foggy before Ayda came along. Now it’s…”
“Filled with sunshine.” He smirked.
“Soft bastard.” I joked, and Jedd’s rough laughter joined mine, filling my life with more love and appreciation than I could ever have imagined existed.
“You guys are gonna have a good life, brother,” he told me. “And that starts tomorrow.”
“It’s going to be the best fucking day of my life.”
“Until your kid is born.”
“Fuck,” I pushed out through a heavy breath. “A husband and a father in the same year. Who the fuck am I?”
“There’s not a man on this earth who deserves it more.” Jedd made his way down to the same step I was on, his hand landing on my shoulder as he looked beyond me to the rest of the yard around us. His fingers pressed into my skin, the emotion I saw in his eyes making my smile fade, and my chest swell with pride. “Sometimes, the best lives start in the murkiest of waters. Yours hasn’t always been easy, but the good times are waiting. Enjoy every second of them… be selfish, no matter what that means for the rest of the club. It’s about Ayda and the baby now. You, Ayda, and the baby. It’s what Pete and Harry would want. The club has to come second after tomorrow, Drew, and you have to be okay with living this new life.”
“This feels like some kind of goodbye, brother.”
“You wish.” He laughed, walking away and leaving me standing there, staring at the door to my home—to our Hut.
“No more goodbyes,” I whispered to myself. “Only good mornings.”
