Page 16 of Coal
The smile I got was as bright as the sun, and I wonder how I’d ever thought her plain.
“Okay,” she agrees. “Let’s go and get married.”
She grabs a backpack from the back of the carand walks towards the sleds.
Handing her my helmet, I swing my leg over the seat and sit down before holding out my hand to Thea and helping her on behind me. I’d never had anyone but my sister on the back of my sled, and I can’t say that I hated it. The warmth of Thea’s body seeps into mine as she relaxes into the ride. I’m a little sad that it was over so quickly. Thea directed me to a parking area that I hadn’t seen on the map. We wait for her family to arrive, and I fell instantly in love when Thea takes her daughter from her youngest sister, kissing her chubby cheek and blowing raspberries on her neck, making her laugh. Thea turns towards me, and seeing the two of them looking so much alike from their brown eyes, curly red hair, and smiles, does something to me.
I rub slightly at the ache that seems to have developed suddenly in my chest.
“Are you sure about this, Coal?” Copper asks softly. “You don’t need to marry her. We can make another deal.”
“No,” I answer him, not taking my eyes off the woman I was about to make my wife and the little girl in her arms. Bolt had gone over and was playing with the baby. Turning towardsCopper, I realise that I hadn’t answered him properly. Repeating my last answer, I tell him, “No, I want to marry her. Can’t explain why, just that it’s the right thing to do.”
Copper stares at me for a minute. When he realises that I’m completely serious, he nods, “Okay then, looks like I have another sister. About time really, you’re getting a little long in the tooth. I mean, we’d all been born by the time Dad was your age. You’re slacking, old man.” He laughs when I punch him in the shoulder.
“Cheeky fucker. You’re only a little younger than me.”
Copper smirks and walks over to Thea and Shea, who is now in Bolt’s arms.
An hour later, I’m married and posing for a picture with my wife and daughter. I feel bad that Thea didn’t have a pretty dress, flowers, or a ring, but I promised that I’d make it up to her, and I would.
“I don’t need any of that,” Thea looks up at me. “I just need to know that my daughter is safe, and that I can stop looking over my shoulder and find somewhere to continue my work. If you can give me that along with your promise to be faithful, then I’m happy. I don’t need anythingelse.”
Seeing how serious she is, I take her word for it, but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be buying her a ring, anyway. I was a possessive fucker, and I want both my name and my ring on her finger. Although, with the type of work she did, maybe a tattoo would be better.
“How do you feel about tattoos, baby?”
Thea shrugs, “I like them. Why?”
“Just wondering,” I answer, making a mental note to contact Hawk and book a session for the two of us as soon as possible.
My life had taken a turn in the last hour.
I’d gone from free and single to married and a father in the space of a few hours. I wonder what my folks were going to say when we got back home, which sadly wouldn’t be today. Instead, I’d had Nickel arrange one more night at Butcher’s house, and I’d asked him to hire a vehicle for Thea and Shea. We’d sleep there tonight, and tomorrow morning Aiden, Kara, and Maeve would bring over the rest of their stuff and the tools that Thea said she couldn’t do without.
Over the next few hours, I found Thea easy to be around. She didn’t mind the humour amongstmy brothers and seemed at ease with just about everyone. Even Butcher hadn’t fazed her when he’d come over to give me the key again. She’d just smiled at him and gone about getting Shea out of her car seat and had followed the brothers into the house, letting me deal with him.
The amusement in his usually dead eyes takes me by surprise when he hands me the keys. “Come to buy guns and end up with a wife,” he smirks at me. “And a baby.”
Shrugging, I take the keys from him. “Never let it be said that I’m an underachiever.”
“Uh huh, I hope this doesn’t come back to bite you on the arse. Her father’s a piece of work.”
“Hopefully not, considering they’re having a bit of a reshuffle and new leadership over in the Kelly household.”
“Really?” Butcher’s eyebrows raise as if in disbelief at my words until he sees that I’m serious. “Interesting. The son is okay. I’ve wondered how long it would take for him to make a move. I guess having your sisters sold to seal a deal is what it took.”
Now I’m the one surprised. “You knew why we were here?”
He smirks again, replying, “Coal, you’ll cometo understand that I know everything that happens here, and if I don’t, I know someone who can find information out for me. I needed to see what you were made of.”
“Interesting,” I muse, staring at him. I have a feeling that I know what his answer will be but asked it anyway because it’s always good to know what a man’s trigger points are. “And if you found out that we’d accepted the deal?”
“None of you would have made it home,” he states coldly.
“Good to know,” I grin at him. “Glad to know that you’re on the same side as us.” Clapping him on the shoulder, I turn and walk away, whistling slightly, feeling good about things for the first time in a while.
Now all I had to do was get to know my wife and new daughter.
