Page 20 of Bound By Redemption
Ensley
My little girlwas cuddling up to her daddy, and she had no idea. Or maybe she did the way she attached to him so quickly.
Even when they were playing at the pond, she laughed, allowing him into her little heart. It was like this instant connection for them. Like they knew from day one they were related. There was so much ease to it, and happiness didn’t even come close to what I was feeling about these prospects.
When I was pregnant with Remy, never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be here watching Remy with her dad. That was the furthest thing from my mind. Mostly because I was trying to survive and keep my baby alive.
It was also the nail in the coffin to tell me that I wasn’t like the people around me. If it had been any other girl pregnant, her parents would make her do the same as what mine wanted. That wasn’t the world I wanted my baby to grow up in.
Never did I want her to have that choice ripped from her and be forced to end the pregnancy. And I definitely didn’t want my baby to have to grow up and be married off at a young age to become some baby making factory. At the time, I had no idea the baby was a girl, but I feared she would be. This life would dictate the roll she had in it. I wanted more for my little girl.
Younger boys were groomed from a young age that having as many wives as possible was God’s will. Girls were groomed to accept this and live with their sister wives, raising the children. Stay quiet and do their jobs.
At first, it was all I knew, and I, of course, had to follow the rules. Where else would I go? What else would I do? There wasn’t anything at that point in my life.
Hell, I didn’t know there was any escape until I had something to fight for.
Remy.
And now she had a family. One I couldn’t give her. It was just Katie and me, and I’d thought it would be that way forever. With Ryker’s help, he brought me into a fold where the dynamic was so different than what I’d grown up with. We were part of this family, and I loved it.
“Ens. You okay?” Micah’s deep voice asked, pulling me out of the past.
My eyes blinked. “Yeah. I’m okay.”
His chocolate eyes stared at me, drawing me in, wanting me to be closer to the man as if he could take everything that happened today and make it disappear. Selfishly, I wanted that.
“MaMa, you otay?” Remy said, my eyes going to hers. I brightened mine up and plastered a smile on my lips.
“I’m good. Just a lot has happened today.”
“Big boom!” Remy exclaimed loudly. I wondered how long it would take her to stop doing that every five seconds. Would this be a memory of her childhood or would she forget it? I hoped it was the latter. So many things I’ve tried to protect her from. This was one of them. The more she brought it up, the more concerned I was getting.
Remy would always be first in my book. For me, though, how I was feeling with all of these people surrounding me, caring for my little girl, I didn’t want to flee or run. As scared as I was about what was going on here, I felt strong around everyone, and instead of running, I wanted to stand up and help fight.
It was a strange realization for me because it was the first time that I really wanted to protect the Ravage MC the way they’d protected Remy, Katie, and me over these last few years.
“Yeah. But mostly I’m worried about Micah and his owie. I need your help.” Remy looked up at me with a twinkle in her eye. She loved to be my helper. “We have to keep an eye on Micah and make sure he doesn’t hurt it anymore. Can you help me with that?”
“Essss, I elp.” Remy responded adamantly.
“Looks like I have a couple of girls to prove I’m just fine,” Micah said, reaching for Remy’s tummy and tickling her. She giggled, and I smiled.
“Good jooob,” Remy told Micah with a stern face, and I had to hold the chuckle in at Micah’s expression, reminding myself he just met Remy and would need to learn her language.
“Yes. Micah needs to be good.”
“Pop! Needs Pop!” Remy demanded, jumping off of Micah’s lap and making me step back. Remy grabbed on to my jeans and pulled on them.
Micah’s brow lifted.
“A sucker. She calls them pops. When she does good things, I treat her with it. So if you’re good, I’ll find you one.” Mentally, I had to shake my head because fuck me I was flirting with him. Seriously?
Get your head in the game, Ensley!
“I do love my sweets.” Butterflies danced in my stomach. Where the hell did that come from? But he said those words so sexy.
Remy continued to pull my jeans. “I don’t know if I have one in the car, but I’ll look in a bit. Aunt Katie is comin’, and we need to be ready for her.”
