Page 93 of Gunner

Mom told me that in time his mood would pass, I just needed to give him some more time.

Dad told me that sometimes it takes the shock of almost losing what you love the most to grow up and start doing the right thing. While I wanted to trust my mom, I believed my dad.

My carefree goofball was still there, but now surrounded by a newer version of him. The protector. I was going to have to get to know Gunner all over again, and I couldn’t wait.

Dressed and ready to leave, I took a quick glance in the mirror and smiled. I was barely four weeks now and I swear I could see a little bump. My little nugget.

Grabbing my bag, I raced down the stairs, only to come to a complete stop. With his club brothers standing around him, Gunner kneeled on one leg, and in his hand was a small red box with a ring in it.

“Marry me, Babydoll.”

I squealed loudly, dropping my bag as I ran towards him. Quickly standing, Gunner caught me just as I wrapped my legs around him, kissing his face over and over.

Chuckling, he laughed. “I guess that means yes.”

“YES!”

“Priest, you’re up,” Gunner said, walking me over to the bar, where he tried to peel me off him, but I wasn’t having it.

I was never letting him go.

Laughter behind us had me turning as I saw my mom, standing with Jessica, Bailey and Claudia, who were all shaking their heads and laughing.

“Damn, Sarah,” Bailey joked. “You could have at least let him sweat a little.”

Still wrapped around him, I turned back around when I heard Priest say, “Dearly beloved...”

Snapping my head to Gunner’s I asked. “We’re getting married now?”

“Well, yeah. Hunting season starts soon. I’m not risking another bullet before my kid gets here.”

“Smart,” I smiled, before looking at Priest. “You better hurry. ‘Causeif I know my daddy, he’s got Gunner dead to rights.”

And I was right, because as we both faced Priest, I saw King and the rest of the brothers trying hard to control their laughter as King pointed at the back of Gunner’s cut, where a small red dot wiggled.

Epilogue

We’d been sitting in the waiting room for close to ten minutes now and the longer we waited, the greener my babydoll was getting. It had been twelve weeks since the night at the lake and my life turned upside down and sideways. So much had happened in that time, stuff I still was trying to wrap my head around, but in the end, my babydoll was safe and that was all that mattered.

Now if I could get her to stop throwing up every second of the damn day, everything would be perfect.

It seemed everything I suggested to ease her discomfort didn’t work. From telling her to eat crackers to putting it out of her mind. Yeah, that last part got me four days on the couch and no sex for a week. Wasn’t making that mistake again. Still, everything she tried seemed fruitless because the kid I put in her belly was determined to make her life and mine a living hell.

I should have known any kid of mine would be hell on wheels. Hell, I was a pain in the ass on a good day. Still, nothing anyone suggested worked, which brought us to where we were today.

Sarah didn’t have the best morning on record. Well, if I was being honest, she hadn’t had a good morning since I infected her womb with my sperm, but this morning was the worst. She didn’t sleep well last night and before the sun even rose over the mountain tops, my babydoll was puking her guts out.

In fact, she puked day and night.

It never stopped!

Had to give her props, though. She never complained once, not even when her morning sickness kicked into high gear. When Sarah’s pregnancy symptoms began, Bailey got me a baby book that would take me through Sarah’s whole pregnancy. I didn’t know what to think. At first, I ignored the damn thing. Then weird shit started happening and before I knew it, I read that book as if it were the holy grail itself.

And now I have questions.

Lots of fucking questions.

“Why did you bring that thing?” Sarah moaned, looking at the book in my hands as my leg bounced nervously for her name to be called.

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