Page 27 of Viper's Salvation
For the first time in years, I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
Epilogue - Amy
Four years later
I set the last of the appetizer trays on the outdoor table, pausing to admire the view from our back deck. The afternoon sun bathes our yard in golden light, glinting off the chrome of the motorcycles lined up along the driveway.
The Outlaw Order MC insignia decorates several of them, a sight that once might have terrified me but now simply means family has arrived.
"Mommy! Uncle Ghost is here!" My daughter's excited voice carries across the yard as she races toward the tall, intimidating VP who's currently looking anything but intimidating with a wide smile spreading across his bearded face.
"I see that, sweetheart," I call back, unable to keep the smile from my own face as Ghost scoops her up and tosses her into the air, her delighted giggles filling the space.
Four years. Sometimes it feels like a lifetime since that day at the compound, since the dock by the lake where everything changed. Other times, it feels like yesterday.
Strong arms wrap around my waist from behind, and I lean back into the solid warmth of my husband's chest.
"Need any help?" Jacob asks, his lips brushing my ear.
I still call him Viper sometimes, especially around the club, but in our home, with our daughter, he's Jacob. The man beneath the cut, the one who showed me that safety and passion could exist in the same person.
"I think we're good," I reply, turning in his arms to face him. "Everyone's here?"
He nods, those green eyes, the ones our daughter inherited, crinkling at the corners. "Everyone. Even Reaper and Evelyn made it back from their anniversary trip in time."
"Perfect."
I stretch up to kiss him, still marveling that this is my life now. That the broken, battered woman I was four years ago could find this kind of happiness.
We step out onto the back lawn hand in hand, taking in the scene before us. Our yard is filled with members of the Outlaw Order MC and their families: the found family that accepted Kelly and me without question that day.
Reaper and Evelyn are by the grill, his arm draped casually around her shoulders as they chat with Emma and Wilder. Ace is setting up the volleyball net with his very pregnant wife, both of them laughing at something. Blade and Kelly are arranging presents on a table, my sister's engagement ring catching the sunlight.
Ghost and Debbie have claimed one of the picnic tables, watching as the kids play a chaotic game of tag nearby, their squeals and laughter providing the afternoon’s soundtrack.
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Kelly says, appearing at my side with two glasses of champagne. She hands one to me, keeping the other for herself. "That this is our life now?"
I glance around at the gathering. These dangerous men in their leather cuts playing with children, kissing their partners, laughing together like any other family at a birthday party. Then I look back at my daughter, her dark hair flying behind her as she races across the grass, fearless and free in a way I never was as a child.
"Sometimes," I admit. "But then I remember what Viper told me that first night at the clubhouse, that the world isn't black and white. That sometimes the worst things are done by men with badges, and sometimes the right thing is done by men with cuts."
Kelly smiles, following my gaze to where Blade is now helping my daughter climb onto Ghost's shoulders. "Wise man, your husband."
"He has his moments," I say with a grin.
Jacob catches my eye from across the yard, that particular look on his face that still makes me wet every time. He excuses himself from his conversation with Wilder and makes his way toward me.
"Our daughter is demanding cake," he informs me when he reaches us. "Says it's an emergency."
I laugh. "Of course she is. She's your daughter through and through, knows exactly what she wants and isn't afraid to demand it."
"Wonder where she gets that from," he says with a raised eyebrow. "Couldn't possibly be from her stubborn mother."
Kelly snorts into her champagne. "I'm staying out of this one. I'm going to find my fiancé before you two start that thing you do."
"What thing?" I ask innocently.
"That thing where you argue just so you can make up later," she says with a knowing look before walking away.
