Epilogue

Emma

Seven Months Later

“H ey Mom!” Ash greeted me with a smile and a hug which didn’t lessen the sting off the fact that she no longer called me mommy. She was in school now and making tons of friends, which meant she was too big to call me mommy.

It was a shame, but she deserved this rite of passage, and I wouldn’t deny her for anything. “Hey honey. How was school?”

“So great,” she answered with wide eyes and a bright smile. “Mrs. Kincaid says that I’m the best speller in the class.” Her cheeks flushed prettily. “You and Daddy are gonna come to the spelling bee, right?”

“We wouldn’t miss it for the world. I’m sure all the guys will show up if you want them to.”

Her eyes widened with excitement because my little girl loved her uncles. The guys treated her like she’d always been a part of their lives, teasing her and protecting her and cheering her on in every possible way. It was so damn sweet that just thinking about it brought tears to my eyes.

“Mom, are you crying again?”

I shook my head and surreptitiously swiped at my eyes. “No.”

“Mom,” she whined.

“Sorry, baby. Ready to go?”

“Please,” she answered in a tone that belonged to a girl twice her age. “What’s in the box?”

“A surprise.” My lips parted into a smile at the surprise I had planned for Slate and Ash. “We’re going to the clubhouse.” As I drove through the streets of Steel City, I felt so different than the woman I’d been a year ago. She was afraid of her own shadow and her only goal was survival. These days that woman was dead, and the new and improved Emma focused on living life, enjoying it, and thriving in it.

Alex was still considered a missing person, but his abandonment combined with the history of abuse meant that I was able to divorce him without the usual years’ long waiting process. I was—as of today—free and clear to be with Slate.

The divorce didn’t mean that the Sheriff’s Department was done with me completely. Once a month, Sheriff Cross called or showed up to ask if Alex has reached out, but Detective Massey kept his distance after Kira threatened a lawsuit for his harassing behavior. The police were still investigating Mark’s death, based on what was found on his computers, it was assumed to be payback either from one of the people he’d been investigating, or someone he owed money to. There was nothing to link it back to the Steel Demons and, thanks to their due diligence, there was nothing to indicate that either myself or Ash had ever been held in his house. Life was still in limbo in some ways, but in the ways that mattered? Life was beautiful. I’d come to terms with what had happened that night with Alex. The voice in my head that had taunted me with the word ‘murderer’ for months, had quieted. It was self-defense, and I knew without a shadow of a doubt, if I hadn’t done what I did, then Ash and I wouldn’t be here today.

“We’re here, Mom.”

I blinked and looked up to find the car parked outside the Steel Demons clubhouse. “Yes, we are.” I hopped out first while Ash fidgeted with her seatbelt, determined to do it herself because she was a big girl now. I grabbed the box and the small giftbag beside it and shoved the door closed with my foot, stepping inside to find the place buzzing with activity.

It never ceased to amaze me how much happened at the clubhouse on a daily basis. The MC had many business holdings which required meetings and accounts and all the things businesses—on both sides of the law—dealt with. “Hey. Is Slate around?”

Rebel nodded, his face lit with a smile when Ash wrapped him in a hug. “Hey kiddo. Learn anything new at school?”

Ash nodded and launched into a detailed explanation of all the things she’d learned in school today.

“Emma.” Slate’s deep voice pulled my attention from Ash and Rebel, and I looked up at the man who still took my breath away every single time I saw him. His dark hair and stark gray-blue eyes were a beautiful combination that spelled home to me. “Is everything okay?”

I nodded. I hoped everything would be okay. I had some news to share with Slate and I wasn’t sure how he would react, “Got a minute?”

He walked over to me as he nodded. “Of course. What’s in the box?”

I laughed. “Always focused on the important things,” I joked because of course he lasered in on the bakery box. “It’s a surprise. Open this,” I handed him an envelope. “And then open the box.” I took a step back and kept my eyes on his face. I needed to see every flicker of emotion. I needed to know the truth.

He stepped forward without a care in the world and tore into the envelope. “Divorce complete? Is this for real?”

I nodded again, my smile too big to contain. “Official as of today.”

Slate’s nostrils flared and he turned to the table and flipped open the lid on the green box. “Congratulations again, Daddy.” He read the words iced on the cake again and then once more before he turned to me. “We’re having a baby?”

I nodded. “In about five and a half months. What do you think about that?”

His smile came slowly at first, but it beamed so bright there was no doubt how he felt about having another baby. “I think that’s the best fucking news I’ve heard all day! You’re having my baby and free to marry me now?”

I nodded. “Yes to both.” I squealed when he picked me up and spun me around, kissing me the way he kissed me everything morning, like I was his everything. “You get to be around for everything this time around.”

“I’m gonna be a big sister?” Ash tugged on my shirt to get my attention.

I nodded and handed her the gift bag, which she tore into comically fast before she pulled out her surprise.

“What’s it say?”

Rebel looked at the shirt with a smile. “Best big sister in the world.”

She jumped up and down happily and took off. “Leo, I’m gonna be a big sister!”

“You know what this means,” Slate asked excitedly.

“Yeah, it means we’re having a baby.”

“And getting married,” he added. “As soon as I go home and get the ring.”

He already had a ring? That was news to me, but it wasn’t unwelcome, not in the least.

“But it means right now, we’re fucking celebrating!”

The guys and some of the girls rushed around and an hour later the clubhouse overflowed with music and people and a good time.

This was the life I should’ve lived. I knew I couldn’t go back and change the choices and mistakes I made in the past because they led me right here with this man, right now. The stars aligned to bring Slate and I back together, to make us a family and I couldn’t be more grateful for that fact.

It wasn’t the journey I would have chosen but now I was here in the middle of my own happy ending, I wouldn’t change it for the world.

THE END

Hope you enjoyed the book!

The next book in the Steel Demons MC

series is Gio

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