CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

-:- JIG -:-

Wow, married life, and I was expecting so many things to change, yet I didn’t know what they would be. As it happens, other than gaining a wife and a dog, very little seems different. I’m certainly a lot happier in myself and I feel more contented and complete than I ever have.

I’ve got into some new habits and routines though, and I bring BigDog to the garage most days so he isn’t alone at the cabin. I don’t think he’s bothered by being home alone and he’s never given us cause not to leave him. But hey, the garage is big enough for him to not be in the way, and he gets so much attention from Maggie that he spends most of the time in reception, anyway.

We go for a ride at least one day of the weekend, weather permitting we take the hog and trike, if the weather's crap, we take the Jeep. No special destination in mind, but then everywhere is special when we go together.

Now that Hammer has almost finished building houses in the compound, I’ve had him sit down with Kenzie and me to draw up our plans for a log home. I want ours to be the biggest so far, if not ever. Kenzie and I both want a big family, so we’re looking at six bedrooms with room to extend later if necessary. We’re having an armory or two, of course, and I’ve agreed to a basement pistol range, although the basement will now extend further than the footprint of the house.

We’re having a Dutch barn as a vehicle garage, too. We’re going to need a large space for the trike, hog, Jeep, and an SUV once the kids start to arrive. I’m thinking of having a guest house at the bottom of our property too. Somewhere for Flynn and family to come and stay.

Kayla and Kenzie seem to have reaffirmed the bond they had before they all moved to Florida. I know they were close before that and spent a lot of time together. I don’t know if they are in touch daily, but it seems she tells me something about Kayla most days.

Winter and Kenzie are also becoming lifelong friends. Winter has never been standoffish, but she has never been close to any one of the Ol’ Ladies in particular. I couldn’t believe she let Kenzie fire her sniper rifle… my God… that’s unheard of. I know Kenzie is saving hard to purchase her own sniper rifle, and I can guarantee it’s going to be top of the range and expensive. Winter and Target will steer her right when she’s ready, I’m sure.

I have said nothing to Kenzie yet, but I’m getting some weapons myself. I’ve spoken to Target, and he’s going to suggest a variety of handguns and a rifle for me. I’m having a couple of shotguns for the house, too. I want a genuine Winchester rifle like the cowboys have, regardless of anything more practical. I may even go the whole hog and get a holster and a Colt to match. Just need to watch that I don’t become too Meat , and costumey . Star would love to rope another couple into their shenanigans.

Mav has become more of a friend than a brother to me, too. Since reconnecting with Flynn and Kenzie, he seems to have really embraced family life. He’s a good brother for the club, but I hadn’t realized how little he was involved with anyone other than his friendship with Knuckles. He’s never been a ladies' man, and he was never interested in the club whores when we had them. He would find himself a nice clean one-night stand when the urge took him. He comes to visit a couple of times a week at the cabin and always sits with us when we eat at the clubhouse.

-:- MACKENZIE -:-

Almost at the end of another workday, and although I love my job, I do miss Amy’s jovial personality and efficient nature. We are keeping in touch, so if I feel stuck with anything, I know she’s only on the other end of the phone.

I’ve got myself involved in so many things since I’ve been here. I love fundraising for local animal sanctuaries, and there’s a dog rescue that caters to the bigger breeds in particular. They take any dog but have a reputation for rescuing and re-homing the larger breeds. When I visited for a tour of the place before I agreed to do any fundraising I took BigDog with me so they knew I was a genuine large breed kinda girl. They loved him and one of the staff asked if I needed to re-home him, as she would take him in a heartbeat. I told them the story of how I got him, and that I would never dream of parting with him. I thought they had a hairy pony in one stall until they told me it was a Tibetan Mastiff. It made BigDog look like a puppy! I wanted her so bad but the practicalities of owning her were just beyond anything I could offer. She needed her own ranch.

Not long now and I get to go home to my boys, Jig and BigDog. I look forward to getting welcomed by them when I get home, or vice versa. It’s nice to be home first sometimes and have a meal prepared for the men of the house. I’m not convinced they feel the same way sometimes. Jig occasionally makes an attempt at eating some of my disasters, but BigDog just gives me his WTF mom? look and walks away. I don’t blame him, but I’m improving. It’s taking longer than I hoped it would. The Three Stooges gave up on my cooking lessons when I kept adding things that weren’t in the recipes they gave me to work on.

There are no more pranks with Amelia and myself since we came clean to Jig after the shooting prank. I miss them I have to admit, although I thought she was going to throw one in the mix at the wedding. When she stood up and cleared her throat, I genuinely believed she’d thought of something to throw at us.

My weapons training and self-defense are coming on great. Sunday training holds no fear for me anymore, that’s a fact. Winter has not been easy on me with self-defense and I’m grateful for that. I want eventually, to be the best of the best, and try to kick Mav’s ass one day. That would be the icing on the cake, as far as I’m concerned. I’d give anything to see his face.

Target tells me I’m one of the best shots at the range already. High praise from him, and I’ll take that any day. Weapons training is my absolute favorite thing in the world, alongside Jig trying to get a baby in my belly. We do the dirty deed at least once every day and I keep telling Jo I’m going to beat her and Knuckles’ records. We decided that as we both want a big family, we shouldn’t hang around waiting for the log house to be built in the compound. We might already have our first child by the time that’s ready to move into.

I’m going to ask Winter to be the godmother to my first child and Mav to be godfather. All my kids will have different godparents, we’ve decided. We have enough to choose from, after all. I think Flynn and Kayla will have enough on their plate being uncle and aunt to the whole brood.

Jig and I want to sit down at some point and go through names, too. I wanted Harley for a girl, but Paisley has dibs on that for her first daughter, darn it. Maybe I could get away with spelling it, Harleigh? I don’t want run-of-the-mill names, but I don’t want weird way-out-there names either.

Jig said his family ran to large babies, ten pounds or above, and that if we had kids that size he would name the first of each, BigBoy and BigGirl. I told him that if he named any of my kids after the dog, he’d best sleep with one eye open for the rest of his life or he’d wake up with no dick. I love my BigDog, but not enough to name the kids after him, for goodness’ sake. There’s no wonder men don’t live as long as women.

Home time at last and I’ve one quick stop to make on the way. When I arrive home, I see Jig’s and Mav’s hogs in the drive. I wonder what he wants this time? He makes up some of the dumbest reasons for visiting, and I’m sure he hasn’t realized yet that he doesn’t need any excuse to stop by. I really am going to have to let him know he doesn’t need a reason, and he will always be welcome. I’ve heard Jig tell him numerous times that he can just visit, but it’s not sinking in.

As I walk through the front door, I’m greeted by BigDog who’s sitting patiently waiting for a fuss. He sits there at the same time every day, waiting for me to get home. He doesn’t do it for Jig and that makes me special, or so I tell Jig, much to his annoyance. BigDog used to rub against me, darn near knocking me over because of his sheer size, but he stopped doing that.

-:- JIG -:-

Mav is becoming a close brother to me. He is one of the brothers I’ve not had around me that much. I like him and he’s got a good sense of humor about him. He loves Kenzie, and that gives me peace of mind because if for any reason I’m not around, I know he’ll watch out for her.

“You want to come on a ride with us on the weekend, Mav?” I ask as I walk in to the cabin.

“Yeah, but I’d have to be back middle of the afternoon because I’m on door duty at TJs both days at the weekend.”

“Oh, we can come to TJs one night, you know, dance a little,” Kenzie adds to the conversation.

Taking a seat at the table, I give BigDog’s head a scratch as he leans against my leg, and Kenzie hands both me and Mav a beer.

“When you going to get yourself a woman?” Kenzie asks Mav, and I smirk when he gives her the dirtiest look he can manage.

“Hush your mouth, cousin, before you jinx me.”

Giggling, Kenzie opens the fridge and takes out two prepared meals Meat sent over. She places one in the microwave and I’m thinking it’s probably another meal that’s going to end up in the trash can.

Talking with Mav about the compound and where I’m aiming to have our house, we don’t smell the burning to start with. But when black smoke starts to fill the kitchen, both Mav and I lunge for the microwave.

Hysterical laughter has me looking at Kenzie, who has her hands on her knees, head down, and spluttering, “I…I…so…sorry. I can’t cook for toffee.”

Mav chuckles, “Maybe you need to be the housewife, Jig, and let Kenzie be the man of the house.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I snarl in response, but I can’t hold back the smirk when I see the meal is incinerated. It’s black and maybe we need a new microwave!

“Come on, let’s go to the clubhouse and eat. Don’t tell Meat what happened to the meals, ‘cause Kenzie you don’t want him dragging you into the kitchen to learn to cook. You already had lessons with the Three Stooges, and yeah, you make some nice things now, but woman, you are lethal in the kitchen.”

Riding over to the clubhouse, I can’t help thinking that my woman is no chef, but she’s everything I could want nonetheless.