CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

-:- DESTINY -:-

Monday morning and after some persuasion from Rock, I’ve brought Jessica over to be with Bitty and Sybil while I help Amelia set up what is basically a craft room. There are machines for t-shirts, mugs, keyrings and all types of things. A laptop is on a desk in the corner of the room, as you need it for setting up things as far as I know, or not? I’m just guessing.

When we arrived, I was surprised that Meat took Jessica with him to the garden, and looking out of the kitchen window, I can see her laughing as she’s pulling weeds from a raised bed. How she understands what Meat’s saying to her I don’t know, because all he does is grunt. I wonder if grunt is a new language, like emojis on text messages?

“Are you alright?”

Turning my head, I give Bitty a smile. “Yes, I was watching Jessica with Meat. She’s enjoying this week off school. It’s supposed to be punishment, but looking at her, it’s more like a vacation.”

“He’s maybe a bit of a cuckoo, but he loves hard, and that includes the women and babies. I see no reason he would not do the same with Jessica and yourself. But the love he has for Star shines like her name. It’s the most amazing thing to see.”

“He grunts a lot, but I think Jessica understands grunt.” I look at Bitty, who is giggling like a teenager, and the sparkle in her eyes says she totally understands what I’m saying, and is as amused by it as I am.

“Go help Amelia. Jessica will be perfectly fine with Meat. They shouldn’t get up to too much mischief, as Star is at TJs today. It’s when they get together you’ve got to be worried.” Bitty pats my forearm and I make my way to the room where Amelia will be working.

Walking into the craft room, I’m surprised at how much equipment is already set up. “Good morning, Amelia.”

“Morning, Destiny. We have a lot of work to get through. I have a massive order from Rock for the Hot Hogs and Cages business. He wants t-shirts, tote bags, pens, lanyards, polo shirts, drawstring bags for gym clothing, mugs. You name it Rock wants it,” Amelia blurts.

All this said with a huge smile on her face, which has taken me by surprise. She is not daunted by any of this. “Do you have other orders waiting as well?” I ask with what must be an owl-eyed expression.

“Oh yes, every club business wants what I make, so we have Club Whisky, TJs, Shooting Range, Coffee House… oh you get it, no need for me to go on. Then we have Jo’s order, and any of the authors you know that want merchandise.”

“I have seven that want you to make items. I have brought a list with the authors’ details, contact information, and orders if you can supply.” I hand over the list and watch as Amelia glances at it. Pins it to a corkboard above the desk which states at the top ‘Orders,’ and the corkboard next to it clearly states, ‘Completed pending dispatch.’

Clapping her hands together, Amelia grins from ear-to-ear, “Okay, Destiny, let’s teach you how to make mugs. You get the mugs from that shelf, and box them there but clearly label them so we know which order they belong to.”

That is how my day progresses, ‘do this,’ ‘do that,’ ‘take this,’ ‘finish that.’ I’m exhausted by the middle of the afternoon, and more than happy when Amelia tells me I’m done for the day.

Taking a seat in the kitchen, I give Sybil a slight smile when she hands me a grilled cheese sandwich and a bottle of water. “Do you want anything else, Destiny?”

“No, thank you, this is lovely.”

Meat walks into the kitchen through the back door, and surprise, surprise, Jessica is on his shoulders. Her small hands are holding tight to his forehead, but she’s smiling so wide it’s a wonder her jaw isn’t hurting.

“Hi, Aunt D, I’m going with Uncle Meat to check on the smoker,” Jessica shouts. Now she is covered in dirt, and looks a total mess, but so happy that I quickly take a picture on my phone to show Garrett when I’m able.

Meat walks to the large fridge, takes out a bag of meat, I’m not asking what, then walks out again. All the while carrying Jessica, with no sign it’s bothering him at all. I look at Sybil, but she shrugs and continues peeling potatoes.

Mia walks into the kitchen holding a hand of each twin. She’s looking tired, so I walk over and pick one of the twins up and sit him in a highchair, then pick up the other one and do the same.

Bitty walks into the kitchen, gives Mia a look over, then tells her to sit her ass down. “I’ll get the twins a drink,” she states, giving Mia no option but to take a seat.

“Bitty, don’t give Carter and Hunter any more kale or spinach because all they did was gag at it. They chewed it, spit it out, and then played with it, which of course ended up in their hair and everywhere.” Mia looks at her sons so lovingly, but you can see they are tiring her out.

“Do you want me to take them for a walk up the compound? Tire them out a little. That way you can rest awhile.”

“Would you? That would be great because my back hurts something horrible at the moment. This little miss is like her brothers.” Mia takes my hand and places it on her well-rounded stomach, but I’m surprised at the force this little girl has. She is kicking up a storm. “Any time you can spare to help wear these boys out would be gratefully appreciated. I’m always tired at the moment and a few minutes to recharge are always good for me.”

Axel walks into the kitchen, and seeing Mia, hurries over to her. I take my hand from Mia’s stomach and Axel places his where mine had just been. He gives such a sweet smile I have to tell you it takes me aback some. I never thought I’d see a cute smile on Axel’s face.

“He can be sweet and give nice smiles,” Mia says as she turns her head to look at me, grinning.

My face instantly fires up, and I close my eyes as I stutter. “I-I-I said that out loud, d-d-didn’t I?”

I open my eyes when Mia giggles, “You sure did.” Axel chuckles, rubs Mia’s belly once more, then walks away as though this interaction never happened.

After helping Mia with the twins, and they're fed, Sybil and Bitty take one each and walk out of the kitchen with Mia right behind. Now I notice Mia is waddling as you see pregnant ladies do, and it has me smiling because one day I hope that’s me.

Looking out the backdoor I’ve no idea where Meat and Jessica have disappeared to, but knowing he’ll look after her I’m not worried and make my way back to Amelia.

Walking through the common room, I stop when Tilly stands and stares at the floor. I stop to see what she’s looking at. Now she’s looking at a pool of water around her feet, and my head snaps up when Tilly makes this grunting and groaning noise. Realization hits me and I shout at the top of my lungs, “STITCH!”

I walk over to Tilly and give her what I hope is a reassuring smile. I’m more than thankful when Stitch runs into the common room. “My water’s broke. You gotta do something, Stitch,” Tilly groans.

I give a nervous giggle, then blurt, “I think it’s you that’s got to do something Tilly.”

Suddenly Tilly bends over and grunts again, which has me stepping away and looking at Stitch, which shows how I’m panicking.

“Now, calm yourself, Dest. Run up the compound and find Hammer. Tell him he needs to come to see me in the medical room.”

“Okay,” I state weakly, but turn and run through the kitchen and out the back door. Flying up the compound as fast as my legs will carry me, I’m thankful that Rock showed me where the cabin was being built, or I would have been in even more of a flap than I am already.

“HAMMER!” I’m shouting every few seconds, and hope he hears me soon because I’m going to be out of breath shortly.

The brother that I remember Rock told me is Ruger comes into sight, and shouts, “What’s up?”

“Need Hammer in the medical room. Tilly’s gonna have the baby,” I say as loud as I can through my gasping.

Now don’t even ask me where Hammer came from, but he appears out of nowhere, and flies past me at a full out sprint. Ruger chuckles as he places his hands on his hips, feet apart, and shakes his head. “Well, that’s him gone for the day. Hopefully, we’ll be getting a new member of the club today. I can’t wait to see if we get another boy.”

“Well, you have the twins,” I reply.

“Yeah, but you know we love our boys, as they are the next generation. Our girls, well, we love them to death, and I can’t wait to see what Meat’s gonna do when Mia’s girl arrives.” Ruger chuckles again, before turning back to where they are building the cabin.

Walking back to the clubhouse, I can hear my name being called but can’t see where it’s coming from until I look up. Oh, my stars and garters! Jessica is on the walkaround of the treehouse, sitting next to Meat and they both have Indian headdresses on. What the heck is going on?

Stopping and looking up at them both, I don’t get angry about the fact Jessica is in the treehouse when I see that she has a safety harness on her chest. I give Meat a thumbs up and get one back from him, along with what I think was a grunt. But whatever it was, Jessica giggled, so I keep walking past.

Amelia, Bitty, Sybil, Mia, Jo, and I are all pacing around in the common room, waiting for whatever is going to happen. I thought they would get Tilly to the hospital, but she was looking like she was about ready to have her baby, which was a bit of a shocker, as I always thought it took hours.

Forty minutes later, Stitch walks into the common room, looks at all of us waiting, and grins. “Mother and baby doing well. She had her daughter quickly and is sitting up looking damn good.”

“A girl. This is just great. Mia is having a girl, and Tilly has a girl, three for two now.” Amelia laughs and rushes out of the common room, shouting at the top of her voice. “MEAT, WE GOT A GIRL.”

“It was terribly fast, wasn’t it?” Bitty asks, but Stitch shrugs, not caring.

“Wonder if Hammer, you know, hammered her that well her poor vagina was stretched and that baby girl fell out?” Sybil asks.

I blink while I comprehend what she has said. Stitch chuckles before we all turn suddenly and wince when Hammer growls. “She does not have a vagina that’s stretched that wide. For fuck’s sake, Sybil.”

“Well, the little nugget was out of her body fast. I mean, is the baby tiny?” Sybil continues.

“The baby was 6lb 5oz, so don’t be worried about her. Both the baby and Tilly are fine,” Hammer snaps again, but as he walks past, I’m sure he mumbles something that sounds like, ‘I sure did hammer.’

I’m keeping quiet. I don’t want to get involved in this at all. “Hammer, what did you name the baby?” I quickly ask before he heads back to the medical room.

“Quinn Alia Pickart,” Hammer replies with pride.

“Gorgeous,” I respond, and give him a huge smile, which he returns before walking out of the common room with Stitch right behind him.

“You don’t ask someone if their coochy is so big a baby falls out! Honest to goodness, you were lucky Sybil, that Hammer didn’t hammer you,” Bitty scolds.

Sybil grins. “I wouldn’t mind getting hammered if I was twenty years younger.”

The three of them giggle like schoolgirls as they walk into the kitchen. I take a seat next to Jo, who is laughing loudly at the Three Stooges shenanigans. Mia is grinning and I’m just in shock because I’m not sure if this place should be classed as an asylum.

Helping clear things away after the evening meal, I leave Jessica with Rock. I’m filling the dishwasher when Bitty asks if I’ve heard anything from Jerica.

“Nothing lately, but we were never close. Even growing up, we didn’t get along that well,” telling it like it is because there is no point hiding the fact.

“She’s never been like you. Always was after an easy ride, and grabbing Garrett was a good move for her. I saw you both grow up, and when Jerica had Jessica, I thought she’d at least be a great mother, but I’m not sure about that,” Bitty says.

I was more than surprised that she had seen us grow up. But before I can question her, Bitty continues. “You make sure Jessica doesn’t go anywhere with Jerica on her own. Only let her go if Garrett is out.”

“What have you heard, Bitty?”

“Jerica has been running around when Garrett has been working. I have a friend that lived near them both, and she told me about a few things Jerica got up to, and one was leaving Jessica alone in the house when Garrett was working.”

Shock crawls over me, I can feel the hair on the back of my neck and arms standing on end. I had no idea this was happening, but then I wasn’t a regular visitor to them, or them to me. But I know Garrett will not have this information because he loves Jessica more than anything in this world, or anyone, and he’d never have allowed this to happen. I have a feeling when Garrett is released he will be making quite a few changes.

I’m going to have to speak to Garrett and possibly Jerica, although I don’t want to speak to her. It’s necessary to find out what the hell is going on, and if she’s been neglecting Jessica, then Garrett needs to know.