Inflamed: A Shadow Riders MC (70 page)

"What?" I turned to River and he nodded.

"She came home after I let her know everything that happened, includin' Ricky's part in all of it." He turned his eyes to the corner and gestured toward Avery. "
She's
still unaware--"

"River said you got sick on a visit up here which is why they had to keep you in the hospital, and why you couldn't go back to Crescent Beach. Do you know when you'll be able to go back home?"

"Um, no, I don't know. I guess when the doctors say I'm all better." I brushed her hair back again, then looked down at her outfit, only to realize that she was wearing a dress. I arched my brow and leaned my head. "Why are you so dressed up?" I asked her.

"Ummmm." She turned her eyes to River, then nervously squirmed off the bed and jumped down to the floor.

"Avery!" I called out. But she ignored me in favor of opening the door again, and within less than two seconds, Madison poured in, followed by Jolene, Verna and Blue. I sat up and leaned against River. "What
the hell
is going on?" I asked for a second time.

"I told you that you didn't have a say in this shit, doll, us gettin' married right here and right fuckin' now."

"You were serious? I'm in a hospital gown," I snapped. "And I'm attached to IV's and I have no dress and we have no rings--"

'We got most of that shit covered," said Blue from across the room. He wrapped his hands around the lapels of his brand new VP cut and smirked. "All we need now is you on your feet and ready to make an honest man outta this sinful motherfucker sittin’ on your left." His eyes shot down to Avery, who frowned. "Sorry. She's so goddamn small, I forget sometimes."

"Join the club," replied Jolene. She moved over to my side of the bed and brushed a hand over my hair, and smiled. "You look good for somebody that nearly got blown up," she muttered to me through a soft chuckle. She rubbed the back of her fingers against my cheek and glanced over at her son. "He's been here in this hospital room and bed nonstop the last two days, all while planning this whole thing on the side just for you. I told him that it might be best for you to wait until you were feeling better and out of here, but he insisted that he had wasted too much damn time already and wasn't going to waste any more of it without you being his wife. And we all know how my son is when it comes to getting what he wants; there's no stopping him no matter how much you try."

"Don't I know it. How's Trucker?"

"He's surviving. One of Ricky's men gut him pretty deep, but he's up and talking and ready to come back to the club as quickly as he can. River patched him in as an official member last night and it was the happiest I think I'd ever seen him."

I smiled up at her and leaned my head. "And how are you?"

"Some moments are better than others. With Wolf gone for good now, I feel like a large, thirty year weight has finally been lifted off of me, but I'm not sure how long it will take me to be okay again after learning what I had about him coaxing River into--"

"Mother--" started River.

"I know," she replied. "I know. What he forced you to do is something that I'm going to have to learn how to get past. It may never happen, but at least I know that in spite of it all, you've been able to become a better man than he could've ever hoped to be."

"Does anyone know where he is?" I asked. River slowly shook his head.

Jolene leaned in. "He contacted Vern this morning, but won't give up his location. And since she wants nothing to do with him anymore, I'm not sure if or when he'll ever contact her again."

"Maybe it's for the best," I said.

She bobbed her head and smiled, then bent down and wrapped her arms around me. "You make my son happy, baby. You make him the happiest man I think that's ever lived on this earth. You keep doing that for him, and for me, and I'll make damn sure that he continues to do the same for you until I leave this earth."

"Thank you." I rubbed my hand up and down her back just before she pulled away and moved back across the room near Blue. She took Avery into her arms and sat down with her on the couch.

Madison moved over to me next and smiled so wide while staring between me and her father that I wondered if she was well on her way to making an announcement of her own. "When I first met you at the club that day," she told me, "I knew that you would change my dad's life in the best way possible. I just didn't know how that would be. And now that I do, I couldn't be happier for you." Her smile widened. "And I think you'd make really pretty babies together."

River cringed. "Madison," he snapped.

"I'm sorry," she said. I giggled and she threw her arms around my neck and squeezed me tight. "But there can never be too many babies around.
And I still think you'd make beautiful ones
," she whispered into my ear and kissed my cheek.

As she moved back over to the couch with the others, Verna stepped up and over, and pat the side of my face. "I never met a woman that was able to tame this wild beast until you," she said. "You were a force to be reckoned with and he was determined as hell to go against the storm you had created in his life until he realized that fighting against that kind of weather was futile. Jolene's right, you make him happy but more importantly, you set him on fire. And I knew from the moment you officially moved into the club that he made you feel the exact same way about him." She leaned in and wrapped both hands around my face. "You two take care of each other," she said. "Don't take him for granted and don't allow him to do the same thing of you. Trust each other, be open. Love each other no matter what, through thick and then, through the best and worst times. Treat him as if he's your best friend and if you ever feel like you might stop loving him, think about what life would actually be like without him. 'Cause trust me honey, once you do, that's when you'll know whether or not you can actually survive. And the truth is that you probably can; but the fact is that you more than likely won’t want to." She kissed the center of my forehead, then backed away, allowing Blue to step forward, last but certainly not least.

He looked me up and down and furrowed his brows. "Eight years ago, I saw you first, you know," he told me. I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head. "Yeah, I saw you first, found you right outside the gate. Maybe if I didn't reach out to River, you'd be my girl instead. But even if you were, I don't think there'd be a force strong enough to keep you from the likes of him and vice/versa. Never even knew what the hell this motherfucker looked like when he smiled 'til you came along and changed all that shit for him, darlin'. Makes me feel good in knowin' that I helped move it along." He grinned with pride and reached down for my hand. "You be good to him, yeah? And like Jolene, I'll make sure he does right by you, though knowin' how he's been with you since the very goddamn beginnin' of it all, I don't think he's gonna have that much of a problem. The only one you might ever find is tryin' to shake him off."

"I don't think that'll be a problem for me either," I said. “Because I don’t know a time when I’ll want it to happen.” He smiled again and winked at me, then turned his eyes to River.

"The chapel's booked and ready to go,” he said, “but they’re gonna need it in a bit for their own church service, so..."

I glanced at River and arched my brows. "You actually booked the chapel?"

He opened his hands. "'Less you wanna get married right here in this hospital bed."

""I's unconventional as hell, which would be right up your alley."

"But it ain't yours, doll," he answered. "Which is why I booked the chapel for us instead."

I stared at his face, really stared at his entire face for a long, long time and I saw the happiness in his eyes; I saw the love and the kindness and the patience and respect he had for me; all things that a few months ago, I never would've believed existed inside of a man like him, and for me. As he stared back at me, his eyes speaking to me so loudly and so clearly that the sound was almost deafening, I brought my hand up to his cheek and leaned in to kiss him. "Thank you," I told him.

"You ain't gotta keep thankin' me for shit, doll."

"Whether you want to keep hearing it or not, I'm going to keep telling you ‘thank you’. And more than that, I’m going to keep showing it." He smiled in remembering me having told him that once before, and I leaned in to kiss him again; he kissed me back until I felt like fainting in his arms. When I was sure that we were taking things too far in front of everyone in the room, especially our children, I leaned back and rested a hand on his chest. "Why don't we save the rest for after the vows?"

"Yeah." He quickly bobbed his head and jumped up from the bed and stood to the flood. "Yeah, let's get this shit moving."

And so we did. And with the help of Avery, Madison, Jolene and Verna, I slipped into a white lace dress that hit just above the knee and fit me so perfectly, I had to wonder if they had gotten my measurements in my sleep. And as River waited at the head of the chapel wearing his cut and proudly showcasing his
PRESIDENT
patch above that pocket with the inflamed bike on the back, Blue moved in and stood beside me, with his black hair tied at his nape and holding out his arm for me to take so that I wouldn't have to walk down there alone.

And when I got down there and stood before River, and we said our vows and made our promises to each other and exchanged our rings, I couldn't help thinking how far we had come since that first meeting eight years ago. I couldn't help thinking how far I wanted us to go now that were made official. And more importantly, I couldn't help believing in the truth that we meet people for a reason; and like the saying goes, most people are either a blessing or a lesson. In this case, I was lucky enough to find both in one person; the one I had not only planned to spend the rest of my life with, but every other life following the first.