Page 74 of Dagger

Six months later

It was a good day to be alive.

We’d done the wedding our way—quiet and simple. A courthouse in the next town over, just us and Dani. Sinclair wore a white summer dress and held a small bunch of daisies, her belly already rounding under the fabric. I wore a clean t-shirt under my cut and didn’t bother trying to hide the tears when the judge said she was mine—legally, finally, and forever.

Now, the clubhouse was packed. The parking lot full, tables set up in the backyard under strings of lights that would flicker when the sun went down. Kids tore through the place on a sugar high. My club brothers’ old ladies drank wine coolers from Solo cups and gossiped over plates piled high with ribs and potato salad. The guys were already a few beers deep, talking shop, cracking jokes, and tossing side-eyes at each other like nobody ever grew up around here.

This was family.

I leaned against the wall near the back patio door, one arm draped around Sinclair’s shoulders. She was glowing—fuck, there was no other word for it. Seven and a half months pregnant and radiant as hell. Her cheeks were pink from the heat, her hair was pinned up loosely, and her hand rested protectively over her bump.

She looked up at me and smiled. “You okay?”

“More than okay, babe,” I said, brushing a kiss to her temple. “Just takin’ it in.”

She let out a soft laugh. “You get quiet when you’re emotional.”

“I’m not emotional,” I grumbled.

She gave me a look.

“Alright, maybe a little. But only ‘cause you married me.”

“You got lucky,” she teased, nudging her bump into my side.

“Every damn day.”

Dani came sprinting out of the clubhouse, with a cupcake in her hand yelling something about Falcon letting her ride on the back of his bike in the parking lot.

“Please tell me that didn’t actually happen,” Sinclair muttered.

“Pretty sure that was just a push across the lot,” I said. “Falcon’s dumb, not suicidal.”

Dani ran straight up to us and held out the cupcake. “This one’s for the baby.”

Sinclair knelt slowly, taking it with a grin. “The baby says thank you.”

Dani leaned in and hugged her tightly. “I can’t wait to be a big sister.”

Sinclair just laughed. “You’re going to be the best big sister ever.”

“I know,” she said with a huge smile, then bolted off again.

We’d worried about how she would take the news of the baby, but we shouldn’t have. Right from the start she was so excited to be a big sister.

Diesel wandered over, two beers in hand. He passed one to me and gave Sinclair a friendly nod. “You look good.”

“Thanks, Diesel. I feel… huge, but good.”

“That’s your old man’s fault.”

“Trust me, I know.”

Diesel snorted and glanced towards the grill where Rocky and Hawk were in charge. “Looks like me, Ellie, and the kids will be eating leftovers all week. The prospects bought enough steaks to feed an army.”

“Sounds like heaven,” Sinclair said, eyes lighting up.

“Help yourself. There’s peach cobbler too. Mabel dropped it off earlier.”

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