Chapter 14

The next four months were the happiest Tessa could remember being in a long time. First her cast came off, and then Bear's had. They'd celebrated by soaking in their new sunken tub in the master bathroom attached to the master bedroom they could finally move into, followed with them making slow, passionate love on their new king bed.

Their new house was starting to feel like a home. Tessa had broken her lease and had officially moved out of her two-bedroom rental at the beginning of September. A little after that, Bear's house was emptied and put up for sale. The realtor had high hopes for a quick sale, though Tessa was pretty sure the saleswoman said that to everyone.

Their daughter's nursery was finished and awaiting the arrival of their newest family member.

Lucky and Harper were celebrating their news as well. Harper had told Lucky about the pregnancy a couple of weeks after Conner's funeral. To say Lucky had been beside himself that he'd put Harper and their unborn baby in danger by taking her to her parents' house that unfaithful afternoon was an understatement. It took several of the brothers to calm him down, but it was Scar who'd somehow brought Lucky back to his senses. Neither Tessa nor Bear knew what Scar had done, or even possibly said. Scar had taken Lucky by the arm and dragged him somewhere secluded for over an hour. When they'd come back, Lucky had fallen to his knees before Harper and apologized. From then on, there had been nothing but excitement coming from the couple.

Scotty had a slew of new t-shirts that announced he was the best big brother in the world.

Sheriff Hannigan and Cindy had reconciled. Bear and the other officers had been informed by Steel at their executive's meeting that the sheriff had believed the club was housing Bree on club property. Unaware that she was still safe at the hospital, the sheriff had bravely undergone Mateo's torture to protect the club, who was protecting Bree. Per Steel, the sheriff refused to put the traumatized child in any more danger. Even with Cindy and Harper under threat, the man had refused to give Mateo any information.

Many of the club members were torn about this. The sheriff hadn't exactly been friendly to the club since arriving in Mount Grove. However, with the pending arrival of a new grandchild, Harper wanted to make amends with her dad. Harper also was working on mending fences between her sister-in-law Paige, Richard's widow, and her parents, who'd been so guilt ridden in their parts of Richard's downfall that they'd been unable to face Paige and their two grandsons. Paige had never been told the truth about Richard's gambling debts. Her sudden financial crisis and the mystery of her husband's disappearance had been plaguing her for months. Thankfully, and unknown to most of the club, Keys had gifted Paige and her sons a payment that appeared like a life insurance policy. Still, the woman had deserved answers as to why her life had suddenly imploded and why her in-laws had appeared to have cut her out of their lives. Apologies were made and tears were shed as Ronald and Cindy tried to explain their part in Richard's gambling debts as well as the real reason they'd moved to Mount Grove from Detroit six months ago. There were many unanswered questions on Paige's part, but it was a start.

Due to his injuries, the sheriff was out on medical leave for several weeks. Carlos took over running the department as he had prior to Hannigan taking office months ago. Hannigan had not had trouble handing over the reigns, claiming he needed the time to concentrate on his family as well as healing. The club was willing to let bygones be bygones—as long as the sheriff continued this new philosophy once he retook office.

Though Cindy was constantly around club property, the sheriff had joined her several times to acquaint himself with Lucky and his children. Of all people, it was taking Lucky the longest to accept the sheriff in their life. He still had not forgiven Hannigan for once pointing his gun at Scotty while raiding the clubhouse. It would take Lucky a lot more than spoken apologies for him to forgive the man.

Bree was adjusting to her new life like a fish to water. She'd had some bad days but, all in all, the teen was thriving. School had been put on the back burner while she continued with daily physical and occupational therapies, as well as psychotherapy every other day. While in the hospital, she'd talked with a child psychologist. It had been very mature of her to ask Angel if she could continue those sessions, even after she'd been discharged. Angel had confided later on to the ol' ladies that she'd always been planning on continuing the sessions but was allowing Bree to believe it was her idea.

Angel and Bree's new house had been delivered exactly a week after she'd been discharged from the hospital. New mother and daughter had remained in Bear and Tessa's house another week beyond that as they got the house ready. Some furniture they'd been able to take from Angel's old apartment, while other pieces were donated from the community and some had had to be purchased from a store online that specialized in wheelchair accessible furniture and wheelchair-user furniture. For example, their couch didn't have permanent arm rests. The arm rests were able to be dropped down so Bree could slide from her chair onto the couch without needing assistance. Though expensive, and Angel was having to watch her budget, she'd wanted to give Bree a sense of independence where she could.

The modular home was single story. The kitchen and bathrooms were designed with a wheelchair in mind. Cabinets had drawers that came out or down and all of the showers had a zero-point entry. The entire house was hardwood, not even an entry rug. There were no saddle thresholds, even the French doors leading to the backyard. Everywhere where one would expect a small step or stairs to be was a ramp.

Scotty loved that he could run out his back door and be at either Uncle Bear's or Bree's house in a matter of minutes. He brought Spot over every day to visit with Bree. Once, when Scotty and Bree had fallen asleep watching a movie, Bree had woken up screaming from a nightmare. Angel had been in the process of calling Lucky to come calm down a very startled Scotty, when Spot managed to calm both teenagers down. Jumper also made it a habit to seat Aerial close to Bree when they were at club functions or he was just "dropping by" to visit with Angel. Tessa had a feeling that there would be a third service dog in their midst soon. Both Aerial and Spot had a way of comforting Bree or getting her out of her head.

Bree still blushed whenever Cage smiled at her. He was around Angel and Bree nearly every day, checking in on his "kidney buddy". Cage was always careful to never do anything to encourage Bree's crush. Bree was still getting used to referring to the club members as "uncle" and their ol' ladies as "aunt". Sometimes she slipped up, but Scotty was the first to point it out to her. The club had presented Cage with an additional patch for his cut. Like the Original patches the officers wore because they were the ones who'd formed the club, Cage now had a small round patch above his name on the left front side of his cut. It had a pink kidney on it with the word donor under it.

Bree had also been given another patch to go on her denim cut. Hers was a curved rectangle with the word survivor on it. Since no one wanted the lovable goof to feel left out, Scotty also got a new patch for his cut. His said big brother.

At one Sunday party following a club run, Tessa had walked around to each member and gotten their legal names, branch of military they'd served in, and asked why they'd joined the VDMC. The only member she hadn't asked was Scar. Harper had warned her not to, claiming not only would it not get her answers but that Scar would feel bad for not answering. Tessa had inquired if the man was mute, to which Harper had answered, "I'm not sure. I don't think so. Maybe mute by choice?"

In mid-September, the club threw a patch-in party for Gus. Tessa had never taken part in a real club party, one where children were not allowed. She'd expected this of Gus's patch-in party and was surprised when Gus had requested not opening it to the public. He wanted Scotty and Bree at his party, so it was kept club-family only. When Gus came to the party with an honest-to-God peg-leg, pirate patch and hat, and a fake parrot on his shoulder, Tessa thought Scotty was going to pass out from laughing so hard. Tessa hadn't known Gus as well as she was getting to know some of the other members and was shocked to learn that he had a prosthetic leg. Bear told her that he didn't flaunt it, but Scotty loved to make pirate jokes about the prospect. It explained why that day in the hospital, Gus had been wearing a patch over his eye and a pirate hat. He'd done it for Scotty.

Now that the prospect was a club brother, he got to choose a road name. "Pirate" seemed appropriate. Scotty was overjoyed by this and kept touching Pirate's name on his updated cut. He claimed he'd named two members now and warned Quinten that he'd be next. When Tessa asked Bear who the other member Scotty had named was, Bear had explained how Grumpy had been named by Scotty after "huffing and grumbling" his way through his prospect year.

Though the party was child-friendly, the Honeys were invited. Tessa was not on friendly terms with any of the women. She spoke to them and was cordial towards them, but she had no plans of getting to know them. She's spotted many of them eyeing Bear like a piece of meat at club gatherings. Unlike Jenna and Harper, Tessa had to come to terms with the fact that her man had slept with these women. Numerous times. Bear swore to her that it meant nothing, it was just sex, but that didn't mean Tessa liked being reminded of such every time she saw the women.

However, when one had tried to touch Bear at Pirate's patch-in party, Tessa had had enough. Pregnant, hungry, and hormonal, Tessa had marched over to the bitch with her fake boobs, skinny midriff on display, and more makeup than a professional clown, grabbed the woman's blonde hair and pulled her away from Bear. If she hadn't heard her fiancé tell the Honey to leave him alone, she would have turned her anger on him next. The Honey, Cheryl, had screamed at having her hair pulled and being tossed aside. She'd turned to face her attacker, but Bear had stepped between them. He was not about to let his pregnant Mama Bear get into a cat fight. Cheryl had then started screaming at the top of her lungs that she'd had dibs on Bear and Tessa was a no-good, fat nobody who'd stolen Bear from her.

Angel and Harper had quickly rushed Bree and Scotty out of the room. Steel had called the room to attention once the kids were out of earshot. He reminded the Honeys that they had no claims on the club brothers and that any club brother with an ol' lady was off limits. Another Honey had cried back to Steel, with legit tears in her eyes, that too many club brothers didn't want to have sex with them and they, the Honeys, felt more like servants doing their laundry and cleaning than members of the club. Steel hadn't been swayed by the Honeys' plight in the slightest. He told the woman that they weren't members of the club, they were employees of the club. And, if drama like this kept happening, Steel would be issuing a new clause prohibiting sexual relations between club employees and club members. Horrified, the Honeys had left the party in a huff.

Tessa felt bad for some of the single club brothers, but she couldn't feel guilty that the Honeys had left the party due to her outburst.

The holidays came and went too fast for Tessa. First was Halloween. The club went all out, even turning the clubhouse into a haunted house for the public to walk through on October nights. The event was free, though donations were accepted towards the National Down Syndrome Society. It was an entire month of trick or treaters and keeping Scotty out of the candy bowl. Under the pavilion, after exiting the haunted house, Jenna had tables set up with apple cider, coffee, hot cocoa, and healthy snacks.

Then suddenly it was November. As the club members took down the Halloween decorations, the ol' ladies started to plan the largest Thanksgiving feast Tessa had ever seen. This would be Harper's and Tessa's first Thanksgiving with the club, so it had been a shock to them to realize the club didn't throw a party for themselves over the holiday. Instead, they hosted an open-door dinner for the community. Townspeople who had no family or couldn't cook would come to the clubhouse for a free meal. Jenna used to run the event from her church, but it had gotten too big to host from their small kitchen. Her bible study group, the ol' ladies, as well as some local volunteers, now hosted the event from the clubhouse. The club even offered transportation to community members who needed the assistance. With the use of the church buses and their own vehicles, they made sure everyone who needed a ride had one.

And then came Christmas! Tessa was pretty sure Santa's toy factory had nothing on the clubhouse that year. The club hosted the local Toys for Tots drive from each of their businesses, as well as an Angel Tree for the Salvation Army. Each member also sponsored a local kid in need for the holiday. The club hosted a Santa's workshop on Main Street where kids could come to talk to Santa, make requests, and parents could get pictures. She shouldn't have been surprised that Bear and Bulldog traded on and off as the Santa Clauses.

Tessa had no idea when Jenna slept; the woman seemed to be everywhere, doing everything. As Tessa's pregnancy drew closer to her due date, the less she was able to help Jenna. She felt awful, but the physical requirements were just too much for her. Harper was able to help more. Her morning sickness had finally subsided, though her appetite had increased. She always seemed to have a candy cane in her mouth. Harper had a cute little baby bump in their holiday pictures. Tessa thought she looked like an oversized whale in her pictures—which pissed Bear off when he heard her description of herself.

After getting her cast off and getting cleared by Dr. Pedaleck, Tessa did go back to work part-time and days only. She missed the camaraderie of the friendships she had formed on night shift, and knew she'd be returning to that schedule after her maternity leave. Bear had quit his job at the senior living facility. He was now on the club's payroll as their on-call nurse, so he wasn't completely without a paycheck. He was all for being a stay-at-home dad—or Papa Bear.

Just after Christmas, Bear took Tessa up to Pittsburgh to legally get married at the courthouse. They'd chosen Pittsburgh because it was where they'd met, as well as conceived their daughter, and because it was a nice stay-cation weekend at a fancy hotel before the cub arrived. His parents joined them, as did Lucky and Harper. No one else was even informed of their decision to go to the courthouse. It hadn't been as simple as showing up, since they'd had to fill out paperwork in person prior to getting the marriage license. Tessa still held firm that they would have a "real wedding" once she wasn't pregnant. Bear could care less if they did or didn't have another wedding; he'd gotten Tessa to the alter and that was all that mattered to him.

Then, a week before her due date, Tessa went into labor. She'd been sitting at the kitchen table while Bear cooked her lunch. She'd been feeling achy all morning, in addition to some back pain. He'd been helping her stand so she could pee one more time before eating when her water had broken.

As a nurse and a doctor, the typical first-time parent panic episode didn't happen for them. Bear got her up to their bedroom. After stripping Tessa of the soiled clothing, he gently checked how dilated she was. Since she was only a centimeter dilated, they decided to remain home. Bear started timing her contractions, which were about fifteen minutes apart. Lying in their bed together, Tessa had a feeling this was going to be a long labor.

It was several hours later before they journeyed to the hospital. They'd already informed Dr. Pedaleck when her contractions had started, and the doctor was standing by for when they headed to the hospital. Tessa had finally reached four centimeters and her contractions were growing closer together. DeeDee and Lawrence met them at the hospital. They told the club to remain at home in their beds, not knowing how long her labor would last.

At 2:33 a.m., on January 11th, Margaret "Maggie" Debra Collins was born weighing six pounds-eight ounces and measuring nineteen inches. Bear traveled with the nurses when they took little Maggie out of the room to clean her up while Dr. Pedaleck helped Tessa deliver the afterbirth. She proclaimed Tessa did amazing and wished the family all the happiness in the world.

The only downer that day was Tessa's mom's refusal to come to the hospital. Despite knowing that Bear and Tessa weren't a fling and that they'd had a courthouse wedding prior to their daughter being born, Tessa's mom refused to come because Gina refused to. Tessa's little sister was still claiming that Tessa had purposefully gotten knocked up to upstage her. Since Tessa didn't want that sort of immaturity around her daughter anyway, she didn't push her mom to come to meet her granddaughter. However, it didn't stop the hurt.

DeeDee had stepped up though. Tessa had really lucked out when it came to mother-in-laws. She'd offered to be in the delivery room with Tessa but hadn't pushed. Tessa had thanked DeeDee for the offer but had said no, wanting it to be a private experience for Bear and her. However, DeeDee had been right there afterwards to help Tessa and watch over Maggie so Bear and Tessa could get some sleep.

By morning, the entire club, including children that were supposed to be in school, were in the waiting room, anxious to meet their newest member. The ol' ladies had even gotten Maggie a onesie with the Via Daemonia's logo and Property of Bear and Tessa on the back. Nearly every gift had a bear theme to it, much to Bear's enjoyment.

Bear had passed around cigars to his club brothers and father—and had even gotten a bubble gum one for Scotty, who'd been elated to be included in the male bonding moment.

Lucky and Harper had been named godparents.

It was a long day full of congratulations, tears, endless pictures, and loving family moments.

Two days after her birth, little Maggie and Tessa were given clean bills of health by Dr. Pedaleck and the new family of three made their way home. DeeDee had wanted to give them privacy and a chance to bond with Maggie alone—though she made it very clear that she could be at their house in an instant if they needed her. Instead, the new grandma had gone to their house prior to their arrival and stocked their fridge with ready-to-heat meals, veggies, fruit, and pies.

As Tessa stared at her sleeping daughter, she had a hard time believing that this was her life. A year ago, she'd had nothing but her career to her name. Now, she was a wife, a mother, a homeowner, and an ol' lady. Who'd have thought that nerdy little Tessa Fisher would snag a sexy as hell, teddy bear of a biker? She certainly hadn't.

They'd setup a bassinet in their bedroom for the first couple of weeks to make nighttime feedings easier on Tessa. Despite that, Bear continued to find Maggie in bed with Tessa. Not that he minded. He adored looking in on his wife and daughter snoozing together. He'd even gotten a heartwarming profile picture of his girls sleeping that was now set as his phone's wallpaper.

Bear crawled into the bed and wrapped his arms around Tessa. She was laying on her side with a sleeping Maggie tucked against her chest. Bear kissed his wife's temple. "Isn't she supposed to be sleeping in the bassinet?"

Tessa ran her finger down Maggie's cheek. "I can't seem to be able to let her go."

Bear couldn't help smiling at her response. He felt the same way. "You didn't eat much at dinner. Do you want anything?"

Tessa shook her head. "I'm good. I just want to lay here and watch her forever."

Bear laid his hand gently over his daughter. She was so small in comparison; his hand could cover her entire burrito'ed body. "You did so good, Mama Bear. I am in awe of you."

Tessa rested her hand on his. Parents guarding their young. She let out a sigh of contentment.

There was still a lot to come for them. They had a wedding to plan. Angel had refused to tattoo Tessa's wedding band on while she was pregnant, so they still had to get their ink done. There was Harper's pregnancy too, and the club's comment that they should start a daycare. There were Maggie's first steps and her first words. One day in the near future, Tessa would finally introduce her daughter to her maternal grandmother. Her aunt would take some more time before introductions were made. There was still the mystery of Jenna's houseguests, who sat like a giant elephant in a room, but no one dared to speak of.

But none of that mattered right then. Bear had his daughter, his little bundle of joy, and his beloved wife in his arms. His cub. The miracle of the family he hadn't known he'd wanted but now couldn't imagine a day without. Life was funny that way. Some changes were bad, while others were so good they were fundamental. Bear closed his eyes with a gentle sigh. Life would go on but, in that moment, he was content. He was, forevermore, a Papa Bear.