Tommy, the new guy, was a member and was doing well. Wolf had moved to California with some old bird he'd found. Bear talked to him sometimes, and he was fine. He said he missed it sometimes, but all in all, his life was good. Beer, a woman, and a garden. Adding an occasional ride to that, and he was better than good. Vi'd been to visit him twice when she'd been in the area for work.
Bear looked up when he heard the garage door opening, and he saw Vi carefully stepping over some engine parts he had lying around.
“Hey, sweetie, what's up?”
“I'm not surprised she refuses to come in here,” she muttered as she tried to dry off a stool before sitting down on it. “It's filthy.”
“It's my lair—my man cave,” he said and winked at her. “Lisa said she'd talked to you.”
“Yeah, she called and said she'd be coming soon, and that you'd mentioned one of her friends had been in an accident or something.”
“That ballet chick she hung out with when she was younger. Met her aunt yesterday, said she'd had an accident about a year back.”
“I remember her. Anna. Anyway, she went on about it and got into that technical doc mode and completely lost me.”
“She did it with me, too. I understood the word 'nerve' and 'leg,' but that was it.” He took a good look at her. Something was up. “How's my youngest daughter doing?”
“Good,” she smiled and the smile kept growing. “I'm pregnant.”
His brain broke down for a few seconds, then he dropped his tools and picked her up in a hug.
“You're fucking shitting me?”
“No. It's early, but I'm pregnant.”
“Where's Mac?”
“In the kitchen. I wanted to tell you alone.”
“Thank you, and I love you.” He kissed her cheek. “I might have to take him up in the ring on principle, since he knocked you up, but I'm really happy about it.”
“I'm not too worried about it,” she said with a laugh. “You'll go easy on him.”
He would. Vi was glowing. Not killing Mac for having a boner for his daughter was probably one of the better decisions he'd made, because the kid made his daughter extremely happy.
By the time she eventually could tattoo portraits, she'd at first refused to tattoo her own face on him. She said it was too weird, but he'd managed to convince her, and he had her and Lisa's faces tattooed on his chest. She wasn't specialized on realistic tattoos, but she was known for being good at them.
Later that night, he turned over in the bed and put his arm around April.
“Think you'll be okay with fucking a grandpa?” he asked.
“As long as you don't expect me to say 'fuck me, grandpa' while we're having sex, I don't really care what you are.”
“She's young,” he said.
It had gotten to him during the day how young Vi still was. Things had happened fast for her the last few years, and he sometimes forgot she was just four years from the extremely shy and inexperienced girl she'd been when she was seventeen.
“She's older than I was,” April said.
“Yeah, but...”
“Hey, I was twenty when I had my first. Twenty-two for the second, and even if I ended up divorcing their dad, I haven't regretted it. I had a good life. They love each other, and they'll be fine. She won't regret it.”
“Okay.” He turned to his back and thought about it for a while. “Still worry.”
“Yeah, that's a pretty constant state of mind when you're a parent, so I'm sorry if I'm not sweating too much about you worrying.”
He laughed and pulled her close again. “You could give me a blowjob. That would relax me.”
“I'll consider it,” she smiled and gave him a kiss. “She'll be happy, because he's working very hard to make sure she's happy. You're a great dad, and you did a great job. Enjoy it and be proud about it instead of worrying. At least some of the time.”
“Thanks,” he said.
April said shit like that often, and he loved hearing it. Hearing he'd done a good job as a dad. He still knew he'd worry like hell until the baby was born. If something happened to Vi while she was pregnant she'd be heartbroken, and it would kill him. He looked at April and then grabbed her jaw to give her another kiss.
“Think I still want that BJ.”
-o0o-
Mac had fucking told
everyone
. Mel'd said it was too early and they should've waited, which his mom had said as well, but he didn't want to wait. He wanted everyone to know.
But they'd all been happy for them, and now he was looking at Vi sleeping naked next to him. He carefully pulled down the cover and stroked her still-flat belly. His baby was in there, and it was weird to imagine. He'd be a dad by the end of the year. A kid.
“Still awake?” Vi asked, and he looked up at her face.
“It's a bit overwhelming.”
“Yeah. It is.”
He'd been wanting this for a long time. He was still crazy about her, and he still got lost in her when he looked at her sometimes. Especially when she was working, because it still turned him on to watch her as she tattooed. To know the beautiful girl he was staring at was his very own wife. Wife!
“Still gonna have purple hair when you take the kid to school?” he asked her.
He hoped she would, because he loved her violet hair. The hair he'd had her wrap around his dick more than once, and it was almost as hot as it had been in his fantasies. She usually ruined it a little by giggling, since she still thought it was weird.
“Maybe. That okay?”
“Yeah. More than okay.”
“I love you,” she mumbled and nuzzled into the crook of his shoulder. “Just promise you'll love me and'll have sex with me even when I'm fat.”
“Sure, I'll roll you over on all fours. That way I won't see it.”
“Hey!” she laughed. “That's not nice of you!”
“I'll love you, and I'll fuck you, go down on you, and I'll do it for as long as you'll have me.”
“Good,” she smiled, and then her smile faded. “What if the baby turns out like me?”
“Then we're lucky,” he answered and gave the dimple in her chin a kiss. “Really fucking lucky.”
“I wouldn't want that for my kid.”
“Baby, you didn't have the best circumstances to be able to deal with it. You'll be a better mom than your own ever was.”
“Still. I don't want that.”
“We'll catch it much sooner, and we'll help it.”
“Okay. I'll still hope that it'll be perfect.”
“You are perfect.”
“I'm really not,” she said with that wrinkled nose. “But thank you for saying it. I'm still worried, though.”
“I know, Katze, but I'm telling you there's no need. I know parts of your life have been shit, but that's pretty much the case for everyone. If we get a kid with ADD, you'll understand it, just like Bear understands you, and you'll be there for it. It's gonna be fine.”
“I'm gonna nag about this some more later on.”
“I know, but I wish you wouldn't.” He gave her a kiss and kept kissing his way down her neck. Then he thought of something. “If you could change yourself, what would you change?”
He could see her thinking and rose up to his elbows.
“And keep in mind that the way you are is the reason you have a lot of the things you do. Like your job.”
She smiled again. “And you.”
“Yeah.”
“Bigger boobs? I'd like bigger boobs.”
“Think you actually have bigger boobs now,” he said and looked at her tits. They'd grown a little, and from what he'd heard they might grow even more while she was pregnant. “Don't think I can fit one in my mouth anymore.”
“So I don't have 'perfect mouthfuls' anymore?”
“No. Sorry. They're just 'perfect' now.”
He stroked over her right breast, grazing the nipple with his thumb before moving his hand down her side and down to the Old Lady tattoo on her hip. Sami'd done it less than a week after he'd been released, and he bought her an engagement ring while she was having it done.
When they were married, and she came walking up the aisle, Mitch had leaned over to tell him to close his mouth. She'd had a long white dress in lace with a violet ribbon around her waist and a purple bouquet. He'd never forget how fucking beautiful she was, and if he made sure they had plenty of pictures. He'd made sure the photographer kept taking pictures the entire night. His favorite was of her curled up on his lap, resting her head on his chest, almost asleep.
“I love you, Katze.”
“I love you, too.” He lay down next to her and kissed her nose. “It's all gonna be fucking perfect.”