Page 37 of The Other Princess

“I guess I just see a canvas and I go to work on making it beautiful. The frame holding the final product doesn’t mater, you know?”

“Perfect answer, babe,” I told her which caused my father to chuckle again.

“Stay still, or I’m going to dig too deep,” Ever scolded him again.

“Yes, ma’am. This is your show, girl, I’m just the canvas, carry on.”

I could have sworn I heard Ever sigh, “Men!” Judging from the way my father’s eyes crinkled with mirth again, I probably hadn’t heard that wrong either.

Once she was finished and my father was on his way, I swept Ever up and took her out to my bike. We ended up riding around for a couple hours, at her request, before we stopped at the beach to go watch the sunset. While we were there we ate the food I had stopped to get us at a local deli, and Ever told me about each of the tattoos she had done in this redemption and forgiveness foray with the club, and the members who had most wronged her. I told her I would keep the information secret, and knew that her telling me was a major deal, because she didn’t trust easily anymore. We sat quietly for a while after her explanation of each tattoo. I supposed we were both soaking it all in until she finally spoke again.

“It’s so beautiful here. I wonder what people who live in the middle of the country would think seeing this for the first time? Can you imagine growing up somewhere and never getting to watch the sun set from the water, or the moon rising over it while the sun leaves a trail of warm orange and pink clouds behind as it dips low in the sky?” She shook her head. “Before I moved here to be with my dad, I hadn’t seen the ocean. My mom never had the time to take us on vacations. She said she’d had her fill of the beach at any rate and that if we were going to go somewhere it would be the mountains, or a lake somewhere that didn’t have sharks or gators.”

“When was the first time you got to go to the beach?”

Ever smiled so brightly then that I actually needed to hear the story that put that look in her eyes and turned her lips up that way. “About two weeks after I got here the kids were in school, and I refused to go that day, because all I could think of was that my mom was gone and the woman in the house I lived in didn’t even like me. I was so sad.” She glanced up at me long enough to show me that the ghost of that little girl’s sadness still lived inside of her.

“Lucy came to my room after a couple hours, and she sat down in the chair across from my bed. At first she didn’t say anything, but then she asked me a question. ‘If you could go anywhere, see anything that might make you happy where would you go?’

“I just looked at her for the longest time trying to figure out if it was a trick. I had heard horrible stories about things that happened to kids while they were trying to find my father. I was in this group home, and some of the kids hoped to get fostered out of there, because the hated it, but the others wanted to be there because they said the foster homes were places where children went to be broken. I wondered if Lucy was going to break me, you know?” Ever shivered, and I pulled her closer to me. Her skin was warm, so I knew it was just the memory chilling her insides. “Finally, I figured I didn’t really have much to lose anyway, so I told her that I’d never been to the beach and it was always my dream to go.” She smiled again then. “Lucy jumped up off her chair and clapped her hands, looking super excited. I remember her shouting, ‘awesome,’ and then telling me, ‘that’s something I can do something about.’”

“She took you to the beach,” I stated as Ever snuggled back into me with her back against my front and her face turned so she was breathing her warm breath into my neck causing my skin to ripple with goose flesh.

“Yes, she took me to the beach. We spent the whole day together that day. She took me to buy a bathing suit first, then we went to the water, and she led me over to the waves. They were small that day, thankfully. I got to jump around in them like an idiot while Lucy clapped and laughed with me. It was one of the best days of my life, and when I grew tired we sat there and just talked. She asked me about my mom, and I told her all kinds of things. We made a deal that day that Lucy would be whatever I wanted her to be. A friend. A mom. Whatever. She said no matter what I thought she was to me I would always just be one of her children now, no different from Toby or Anna. Then we watched the sun set over the small sand dune, and before we left she pointed out the moon rising over the water.”

“Lucy’s a good woman,” I stated needlessly, because Ever knew that better than anyone in this world.

“She is. She’s the best. She’s been my mom longer than I had my real mom now, you know?” I did know. I kissed the top of Ever’s head and held her a little tighter. I still didn’t understand how she’d gone through seeing her own mother die, to being thrown into the family she was, the club, and everything that happened afterward and yet she remained one of the sweetest people I knew.

As we were walking back to my bike I got a message that there was an important club meeting in an hour. “Damn those bastards,” I hissed out under my breath. I hadn’t told Ever yet, instead I just got us back to her apartment and walked her up the steps to the landing.

“Do you want to come in?” Ever asked as she gazed up into my eyes. I hated to dash the hopeful look, especially since I thought I knew exactly what she was hoping for.

“I can’t, because what I think might happen if I do is not something I have time for tonight. There’s a meeting in thirty minutes, and I have to be there. I already got the summons earlier when we were leaving the beach. Her body deflated, and it was almost a physical thing as I watched her shoulders slump inward a little. “Ever,” I called her name to get her attention and alleviate whatever doubt had crept in her head.

“Baby, when I’m with you for the first time, it is not going to be a rushed tryst. We are not going to have any interruptions, and my phone will be turned off and our schedules cleared for at least three days.” That made her laugh. “You laugh, but I’m completely fuckin’ serious. Once I’m able to fall into you in a physical way, I don’t think I’ll be pulled back out so easily.” The blush that crept up her neck and heated her cheeks just made her all the more beautiful in that moment. I leaned in and kissed her deeply. When we came back up for air it was past time for me to get gone. “I promise you, we will be together soon, and it will be on both of our terms or not at all. I have to get going for now, babe.” I turned and started clomping down the steps before I heard her call out to me again.

“Deck,” I turned and saw the wary hesitation in her features. I cocked my head a little, trying to figure out what it was she wanted to say that had her doubting herself. Before I could ask she simply said, “Ride safe!” Then she locked herself away in her apartment, and I was left to wonder what she’d really been about to say to me.

~*~

“This better be important,” were the only words that needed to be said when I walked into the clubhouse after leaving Ever to her damn doubts about us.

“What crawled up your ass?” Crow asked as he tipped his head towards the room where we normally held church. “Everyone’s already inside. They’ve been waiting on you to show.”

I glanced around the common area and noticed that there were plenty of other brothers chilling out and wondered who the hell this meeting was for if not the entire club. “What’s going on?”

“Well, if we can get our asses inside I’m sure all will be explained to you.”

We entered church and I noted that the only people, aside from me, were the ones who Ever had tattooed. It did not bode well, especially after I promised Ever I wouldn’t reveal anything ahead of time.

“What’s going on?” I didn’t bother hiding the harshness in my voice as I asked the question.

“Calm down, son. We’re just here to get a consensus, because some of the people in this room wanted to get an early peek at what Ever put on us, so we aren’t completely shamed in front of the club and family when we do the reveal.”

“You all promised her!” I yelled at them. “Each and every one of you fuckers promised when you set out to do this that you would do it her way or not at all. This isn’t even about the tattoos. If you do this, she will have no faith in you. Nothing will be fixed. It will all have been for nothing, except to prove what she already thinks… that you don’t care enough to go through with it.”

“Easy for you to say since she didn’t ink you up with her emotions,” Crow sniffed.

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