Page 37 of Room Twenty: Owning Their Angel

Our woman might, but I don’t. I’ll be keeping an eye on Connie and making sure she doesn’t do or say anything to cause our woman stress. Not while she’s carrying our baby and not after they’re born either. If I can help it, nothing bad will touch our Cherub.

She’s ours. We own her. We love her.

We’re never letting her go.

EPILOGUE

ABOUT THREE MONTHS LATER

HEATHER

It’s a damn good feeling to be driving through the gates of the club compound again. I haven’t been gone for very long, but this is home. It’ll always be my home. Even just going to the hospital to have our little girl, Rain, was too much.

Yup, we had a little girl. I was sure Zach and Gray were going to faint when she was born and the doctor, with one announcement, filled our world with pink and unicorns and mermaids. Not that she can’t like Harleys and dirt and grime. She can, but I don’t think Zach and Gray have realized it quite yet.

Poe understood. The man had a huge fucking grin on his face with the announcement. Then he kissed me softly and thanked me for bringing our daughter into the world.

When she was placed in his arms, he looked down at her and scowled. I started to panic a little, but his eyes snapped up to mine, and I could see the fear there. “She’s too beautiful,” he blurted, “we’re going to need to start training dogs to take a bite out of any boy who gets too close to her.”

I had to bite my lip to stop myself from laughing at how ridiculous he was being. My other men crowded around him and had matching looks of wonder and awe on their faces as they looked down at her. I couldn’t help the tears that started to roll down my cheeks.

Zach was the first to notice since Poe was passing our daughter off to Gray to hold her for the first time. Since his hands were free, Zach closed the distance between us and wrapped his big, strong arms around me. He didn’t ask if I was okay. He didn’t demand for me tell him why I was a blubbering mess. He just held me.

Then when I had gotten myself under control, he kissed the top of my head and murmured, “It’s overwhelming in the best of ways.”

I simply nodded, grateful he understood and helped to hold me together when I needed it the most. Then it was his turn to hold our daughter and I got a front row seat as I watched a man I love fall in love with our little girl.

Could anything be better than that?

Zach’s watery eyes turned to me, his voice gentle, “We’ve come up with list after list, but do you know what her name should be?”

I looked out the window where the storm that had started just as my water broke was still pelting the city with rain and I nodded. “Rain Cherise Strickland.”

My men practically melted into a puddle around me. I had already talked to Wrenley about using her mother-in-law’s name as our little one’s middle name if it was a girl. I didn’t want to step on her toes, but Cherise has become something like a mother to me. Hell, she’s the only real mother I’ve known since I was a young girl.

I now share the same last name as my guys because I married Gray legally about a month ago. Our wedding included a commitment ceremony and the signing of papers to change Poe and Zach’s last name. The choice was easy because Gray is the only one who has parents worth the honor of being grandparents to our baby. It felt right to share their name.

I thought Gray’s mom was never going to stop crying when we asked his parents if they were okay with the idea.

I’m excited because she should be at our house to greet us and meet her granddaughter for the first time. I’ll get to see that special moment, the one where love is forged in the deepest part of a person’s heart, all over again.

I’m expecting my men to drive us around the clubhouse and toward our house, but they don’t. We moved in about a month after I came back to New Orleans from Sweetwater Valley. I guess Hammer and Poe, since he’s working at Devil’s Construction, pulled some strings and got some extra workers to finish it ahead of schedule.

I’m sure my very pregnant belly had something to do with the fire lit under their asses.

I’m not complaining at all. Our house is gorgeous, and I’ve been able to nest to my heart’s content. Rain is going to love her nursery which is done in gray and white with little pops of color and baby animal prints on the walls.

“Why are we going to the clubhouse?” I can’t help but ask when we stop, and my men start to help me get out and grab Rain.

Poe kisses my forehead, “We have one stop to make, Cherub, then we’ll take you home. It won’t take long.”

I nod and try not to let the exhaustion I’m feeling bring me down.

The moment the doors, the devil skull insignia greeting me from where it’s burned into the wood, are opened, everyone quietly whispers, “Welcome home.”

Tears well up in my eyes and are tripping over the edge of my lashes before I even have a hope of stopping them. I look around the room, everyone with eager smiles on their faces because they get to meet the first baby who is the next generation of the DSMC. Rain is the first club princess since Fleur was born. It’s special.

So fucking special.

---