Epilogue

EpilogueBellaFour Months LaterToday was the big day—Forge and I were tying the knot. We’d accepted his club’s generous offer to have our wedding and reception at the clubhouse. I had always liked the environment there. It was a nice building that held many happy memories for us.Crystal and the other club wives all pitched in to make our wedding special. It was the most fun I’d had in a long time. Before, I was friendless and being held prisoner by the mob. Now, I was free as a bird and had more friends than I could count on both hands. Even though I’d been pretty reluctant about embracing the Dark Slayers when I first met Forge and thought the bikers scary, now I considered them family.I was currently sitting in one of the upstairs suites, gazing at my lovely wedding dress hanging on the door frame. I found the perfect dress at a local boutique, it was vintage, and I had been assured that its previous owner had a very happy marriage. The white tulle was layered on thick and it had princess sleeves, banded with satin ribbon just below the shoulder and again at my wrists. It was elegant and unlike anything I’d ever seen before. I paid for it with the money I earned giving singing lessons at Crystal’s acting school.I sipped my sparkling grape juice—while I hadn’t seen my groom-to-be, as befitted tradition—Forge had sent a bottle to the suite with a note saying he was sorry it couldn’t be Dom Pérignon. I marveled at how my life had started out rocky but smoothed right out after meeting the love of my life. Memories rose of our first night together, when I made the first move. I thank God every single day that I had been bold enough to reach for what I wanted. Forge was the best part of my life, and I couldn’t imagine not being with him.I looked down at the envelope in my lap, wondering if I should give it to Forge before or after the wedding ceremony. I ran my free hand over the unfamiliar script neatly penned across the front. This was a risk either way. I hated to take a chance on Forge being angry. But then again, if I withheld the envelope, he might be even angrier at me.The door creaked open, and Forge slipped into the room.“You know you’re not supposed to be in here,” I shouted closing my eyes tight.“I know. I had to sneak around Crystal and the other old ladies to see my own fiancée on our wedding day. Tell me that doesn’t suck, princess.”I tucked the envelope between me and the arm of the sofa. Out of sight, out of mind for the time being. Then I set my drink aside and held out my arms for him to join me on the sofa. He eased down, careful of my gently rounded belly. Then he turned and wrapped one hand around my back and put his free hand on my belly. “How’s my daughter doing today?”“She’s doing fine.”“I like your silky white pajamas. They look nice on you.”“Thank you. I totally feel like a bride today.”He gently squeezed my belly like a melon. “Can’t believe you’re only four months pregnant.”I ran my hands under my bump. “Yeah, me either. I think even though we’re having a girl, she’s going to take after you instead of me.”“Don’t panic,” he said out of the blue.I raised one eyebrow. “I’m not panicking.”“Maybe it’s me,” he admitted sheepishly. “I’d hate to saddle a girl with my body. She needs to take after her beautiful mother.”“Don’t say things like that. There’s nothing wrong with your body, and there is certainly nothing wrong with having a big strapping girl who loves sports.”My soon-to-be husband perked up. “Maybe you’re right. I could teach her to wrestle and how to play hockey.”I ran one finger down the edge of his cut. “There’s a slight hiccup in your plan. You don’t do either of those things.”He grinned down at me. “I could start practicing. By the time she’s old enough for sports, I could be an expert.”“That’s not how that works, handsome. You’re supposed to wait and see what their interests are and then step in to support them.”“Then I’ll just have to train in all sports between now and then.”I pulled him down for a kiss. “You’re taking this perfect dad thing too far. Just chill. For all we know, she won’t even be interested in sports. She might turn out to be a gigantic bookworm.”He hugged me tight and nuzzled his face into my hair. “I’m just teasing you, princess.”I tilted my head up to look at him. “Why is it that every time you joke around, I sense a seed of truth in your words?”“Because you are far too perceptive about what’s going on in my head.”I patted his chest. “You’re enough just the way you are. No changes or modifications needed. You don’t have to be the perfect at anything to be loved.”“It’s nice of you to say. But we both know that’s not true. My mother abandoned me in a hospital restroom when I was a fucking newborn. It’s pretty damn clear that I meant nothing to her.”I pushed up off his chest to look him squarely in the eye. “You are aware that babies get surrendered all the time, right?”“Yeah, but there’s a world of difference between surrendering a baby for adoption and abandoning one. I can’t even begin to see how anyone can give up a baby—”“Let me finish, babe. There are many reasons that people give up their children, and it doesn’t mean you weren’t loved. Sometimes parents do it so you can be loved—because they know they can never give a baby a good home, we don’t know her reasons.”“I have a bad feeling I was the problem. Maybe I was one of those babies who cried all the time and wouldn’t stop no matter what they did. Hell, if that’s what happened, I don’t even blame her. I’d give myself away too.”This man was ripping my heart out. Tears gathered in my eyes at hearing him talk trash about himself again. He was so confident until I got pregnant. It triggered him big time. I wiped at my eyes with the back of my hands, feeling like the world’s biggest meddler.“How would you feel if you found out that I lied about something really important?”He stared at me for a second before responding, “I guess it would depend on what you lied about, your reasoning, and how deeply it impacted our relationship.”I struggled with my decision for a few moments and then pulled out the envelope. “It’s more of a lie of omission. I did something intrusive, and I don’t know how you’re going to react.”He glanced from me to the envelope and back again. “I love you, Bella. If you weren’t intentionally trying to hurt me or our relationship, I’ll forgive you.”“Since we found out about the pregnancy, you’ve been talking a lot about being abandoned as a baby. I know how emotionally scarring that was for you.”“What are you getting at? What’s in the envelope, Bella?”I tapped the envelope against the palm of my hand. “I could tell not knowing why your mother gave you up has been eating at you. I decided to do something about it.”His mouth fell open. “She didn’t want me. What good will knowing her identity do?”“Crystal and I sent off a sample of your hair for a DNA analysis.”Forge was just staring at me like I had two heads, “You what?”I could see the anger flashing in his eyes. Before he jumped to any conclusions or said anything he might regret I quickly answered. “The good news is we found a match, a maternal match, to be exact. She was searching for a pair of twins, brothers your exact age.”“You’re saying I have a mother and a brother somewhere?”“Yes. I reached out to her and asked her what happened. She wanted to tell you directly.” I held up the envelope. “This is what she sent, I haven’t read it.”He took the envelope from me with shaking hands.“You don’t have to open it today. But there is more that I have to tell you.”His eyes lifted to mine as he clutched the envelope to his chest. “Go ahead and tell me. I want to know how far down this rabbit hole you’ve dug goes.”I couldn’t look at him because what seemed like such a good idea when Crystal and I orchestrated this whole mess, was turning out to be absurdly invasive. I quickly forced the words out before I chickened out. “We couldn’t find your twin brother, but we invited your mother to the wedding. She stayed with Crystal and Hash last night and is downstairs with them right now.”“Could you repeat that? You were talking really fast, and it sounded like you said you brought my mother here to see me get married.”Not daring to look at him, I responded, “Yeah, that’s exactly what I said. I’m only just now realizing how this might feel like I’m steamrolling over your right to make decisions for yourself.”“Only just now realizing that. Is that what you said?”I nodded, still not looking at him. “Yeah. When we were doing it, I imagined that you would be thrilled and think it was the best wedding present ever. Now, I’d just be thrilled if you still go through with the wedding.”Forge lifted me up and plunked me down on his lap. Then he tilted my face up to look at him. “You’re a strong, smart, resourceful woman. You don’t need to apologize to anyone for trying to make their life better, least of all me. I’m the one who signed up for that shit, remember?”“Then you’re not mad at me?”“No. I’m not, because if you’d left it up to me, I never would have dared to contact her.”“Because you had it in your mind that she didn’t want you, right?”His expression finally brightened. “But I would have been wrong. If she didn’t want me, she wouldn’t have accepted your invitation.”“You’re right. Are you going to read the letter?” I asked excitedly.He looked down at the writing, then slowly shook his head. “No, I’m not. In the face of actually meeting her, I find that I don’t really care why she did it. I’m sure she had her reasons. I want to meet her, talk to her, and see if she would like to be in my life.” He handed me the envelope. “Will you put this somewhere safe? I might want to read it one day if she can’t tell me face to face, but for now, I just want to meet my mother.”“Good call, babe. I can go down if you feel like you need the support, but I think it would be better if your first conversation was one-on-one. Crystal told me they were going to sit on the patio and drink coffee until the ceremony started.” I shot him a bright smile. “She arrived several hours early, I suspect hoping for a chance to spend time with you.”Forge gave me a hard kiss before saying, “You know me well. This is the best wedding gift you could have given me.”“Really?”When he nodded, relief bloomed in my chest. “Thank God. I thought my impulsiveness was going to cost me a good husband there for a second.” I hopped off his lap and began pulling him up from the sofa. “Go, visit with your mother. If you need me, just call and I’ll come running. If not, I’ll definitely talk with her at the reception.”He gave me a long, sweet kiss before heading downstairs. I walked to the back bedroom to put away his precious envelope, then looked through the window to see if I could catch a glimpse of his mom. Sure enough, Crystal was sitting at a table with an older woman who had Forge’s dark brown hair and kind eyes.It was bittersweet to see how awkward he was when he introduced himself. Crystal glanced up to the window, saw me, and immediately started making her way toward me. I couldn’t take my eyes off Forge and his long-lost mother. They were sweet together. Save from getting pregnant with our daughter this was best thing I’d ever done for him, and I had almost let my anxiety get in the way.Crystal came barreling through the door. “The woman is great,” she said breathlessly. “You asked me to find out what she’s like, and she seems really nice. She didn’t tell me why she abandoned him, but she said some really bad things happened in her past. It sounds like she did whatever she did out of desperation—not because she didn’t want him.”“Thank God. I’m so grateful for everything you’ve done to help me find her.”“Well, now that that’s off our plate, it’s time for you to start getting ready to walk down the aisle.”***When I was brushed and buffed to within an inch of my life and as picture perfect as Crystal could make me, we headed downstairs and heard the wedding march begin. We had each chosen two friends to stand by our side when we got married. I chose Crystal, of course, and Aprilia. Aprilia and I were quickly becoming close, because both of us thought of the Russo brothers as friends and because she was married to Forge’s best friend, Mason, who was this awesome Cajun teddy bear and was one of Forge’s chosen groomsmen. The other was Corey, who was currently sitting on a chair beside Forge. His leg was in a brace, and he still had a long road to recovery ahead of him, but he was doing okay and would hopefully be back on his bike in no time at all.As I walked down the aisle, I saw Forge’s mother sitting on the end of the front row. I stopped long enough to pull a rose from my bouquet and give it to her. She teared up as she took it from my hand.When I took my place beside Forge, the look of pure love and happiness on his face was worth the months of hard work Crystal and I put in to find his mother, he finally seemed at peace. He held out his hand and I slid my hand into his. At one time, their club president used to perform the ceremonies, but we decided to use a local preacher so Storm could enjoy the wedding with his family as a guest.I said my vows in a haze of happiness. The next thing I knew Forge was kissing my face off in front of everyone. I enjoyed it so much that I pulled him down for another quick kiss when he was finished. When we turned to see all his club brothers and their old ladies smiling back at us and clapping, my heart was fit to burst. I was home and these people were my family. I didn’t know exactly what the future held in store for us, but I was not worried in the least because together, Forge and I were an invincible team.THE ENDHope you enjoyed the book!The next book in the Dark Slayers MC series is Forge.Subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on Facebook to be the first to know about the release.If you have not read the first book in the Dark Slayers MC series, follow this link to read “Storm”.Other recommended reads by Aria Ray: please check my bestselling panty-melting Russian Mafia Romance “Heir for the Bratva King” (Russian Mafia Romance Duet).