Page 25 of Stitch's Mercy

The crowd laughed and shouted congratulations. The evening unfolded as I’d expected. We drank champagne and chatted about our small courthouse ceremony.

“How about having a fancy steak dinner at the casino?” Levi asked.

“I was just going to suggest Aeros.” Lady M turned toward Brady and I. “Ben and I will cover the expenses.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Brady replied.

“Oh, shush.” She waved him off. “Let us do this.”

“Of course you can.” I squeezed Brady’s hand. Lady M and Ben had been surrogate parents to Brady. If they wanted to pay for dinner, I wasn’t about to argue.

“Then it’s settled.” Lady M beamed and stood. “Supper is ready. I made a pot of venison stew and biscuits. Brady’s favorite.”

“Aww, that is so sweet.” My heart grew twice the size. The family treated Brady like he was one of them. Blood or not, he was family.

When we’d finished eating, Lady M had tempted us with homemade cookies and more lefse. But Brady and I needed to get to my folks’ house to announce our engagement.

On the way back to Fargo, Brady had to me he’d asked my dad for his blessing. I had teared up. He had thought of everything and loved him beyond words for it.

“I’ll text the details for the ceremony once Brady and I figure it out,” I told everyone as Brady guided me out.

“If you don’t stop talking, we’ll never make it to your parents before midnight. Don’t forget we work in the morning.”

I continued to wave as I made my way to his Range Rover. “I know, but it’s difficult to leave them. They’re so much fun.”

He opened the passenger door to help me in. “And soon, they will be your family. You can see them anytime you want.” He leaned in and planted a warm kiss on my lips, then shut the door and went to his side.

Pondering his words, it seemed surreal to marry into such a large family of bikers. And there were more Knights in Minnesota and South Dakota. The Knight’s Legion MC was spreading out. Micah was building a club in Montana. I couldn’t imagine how many more chapters would pop up around the Upper Midwest in the years to come.

I thought of my brother, Noah. I’d bet all the lefse in the world that he would like the Knights and might have even wanted to become a member of their club. My brother had had a heart for protecting the innocent, hence his coming to my rescue the day he’d been murdered. Girls had been going missing. I’d read about human traffickers in the newspaper, but I’d only been fifteen and had blown it off. I could remember Noah telling me to never get into a stranger’s car or go anywhere alone.

The Knights had done everything possible to keep the state of North Dakota free of drugs and traffickers. I shouldn’t have been so hard on Brady. They were good people.

“Everything okay?” Brady placed his hand on my knee.

“Yes. Just thinking.”

“Are you afraid to tell your parents we’re getting married?”

“No. I’m an adult. And my dad gave his blessing. That’s all I need. Surely, he’s talked to my mom. She’s not as accepting as my dad.”

“I sensed that about her. But I understand why she’s the way she is. Losing a child has to be harder than losing your parents.”

“No, don’t do that. Your loss is no less devastating. You were just a teenager. You didn’t lose just one parent, you lost both, Brady.” I squeezed his hand and kissed it. “You suffered an enormous loss. But my mom didn’t recover as well as you.”

Just then, he pulled in front of my parents’ home.

He turned in his seat and cradled my face in his hands. “We’re going to go in there and share our joy. We’ll give them the details, tell them we’d love it if they came, and then leave. Unless you tell me otherwise.”

“I doubt she’ll want to go because it will be Christmas Eve.”

“And that’s her choice, baby. We’ll accept it and not give her a bad time about it.”

I nodded and exhaled a deep breath.

At the door, I knocked, even though I’d been living here since Hope and Levi got together, and could walk right in.

“I should’ve given them advance notice that we were coming by.”

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