Epilogue

EPILOGUE

RORY

Eight Weeks Later . . .

“Scamp, what the fuck is taking you so long in there?” Aries shouts from the other side of the door.

“Just another minute,” I call back, smiling uncertainly at the stick sitting on the counter I’d snuck into the room yesterday. I hadn’t wanted to tell Aries my suspicions until I knew for sure.

Saying one thing is different than him learning and realizing it’s reality.

In the past weeks, since the fight, the two of us have grown even closer.

The first thing he’d done without even asking me was take me to the courthouse and married me. He said he wasn’t going another day without the two of us being tied and my finger having his ring on it. Said if I wanted a ceremony later, I could have it, but he wasn’t waiting around.

Even now, thinking about it, I find it kind of sweet, no matter the way he went about it. In truth, I didn’t want some big ceremony.

We found a place that was outside the clubhouse, and Aries put in an offer on it. Said we needed to have a place that was just ours. Ironically it wasn’t far from the clubhouse, and it was right next door to Kevlar and Rosemary. The house wasn’t completely finished, but it would be soon. We’d be moving into it, probably in another week or so. This means we’ll have to finish picking out furniture for the place.

I’d even gone to work with him a couple times at the strip club. At first, it was uncomfortable being around the women, but Aries showed me what he did and let me help. However, I preferred to help Rosemary at the gym. She needed someone to help handle the front desk. I was good at it and didn’t have to be there all the time if I didn’t want to be.

“Rory, you need to open the door,” Aries calls out. “You know we always shower together.”

He’s right. Aries never lets me shower alone. It’s become a joke between the two of us. Granted, he does it all the time.

“I’m not going to shower,” I tell him, finally seeing the results. Lifting the stick, I make my way to the door and unlock it, barely getting it open before Aries is in my space. I lift the stick before he can say anything. “I was finding out if you were going to be a daddy or not.”

Aries goes still, his eyes shifting to the little pee stick, eyes on the results.

“Looks like you’re gonna be a daddy,” I whisper, dropping my arm.

“We’re having a baby,” he croaks, clears his throat, and moves, arms going quickly around me. “Fuck yes,” he shouts and twirls me around. “Best damn news you could give me, Scamp.”

Aries sets me on my feet long enough to scoop me into his arms and carry me back to the bed.

“What are you doing?” I gasp as he gently lays me down.

“Showing you just how much I like the fact I’ve got you knocked up,” he says and claims my lips with his.

Aries goes about doing just that but also gives me so much more. He wasn’t just happy to be having a baby with me, it went beyond happiness to the point words don’t explain what it is. The two of us were finally getting everything that was ever taken from us.

There’s no replacing the pain of what we lost before. Nothing could replace the child we lost. Or the pain we went through at the time we will never get back. But this is a beautiful thing in and of itself. And no one will ever be able to take it from us again.