Page 109 of Jagged Little Pieces

My best friend spends the first year in McMurdo Valley helping me set up my new clinic, McMurdo Valley’s Pudding Paws. We spend the second year building up my second business, Coco’s Happy Feet. The dance studio once belonged to a tyrannical bitch connected to those bullies from the parking lot fight. Now, it’s where my best friend reignites her love affair with dancing.

Coco is a natural instructor. She’s fun and has real world experience. Most of her clients are either children or the elderly. She teaches ballet, tap, and hip hop for the former. Salsa and line dancing to the latter. Eventually, she adds belly dancing and pole dancing to draw in the middle-aged lady crowd.

While I was busy building my home, Coco moved into Goose’s room at the Pigsty. Rather than have a baby, they adopt a dog. Goose adds a sidecar to one of her motorcycles so she can take Duckie with her around town. Coco buys the dog a little helmet for his rides. Duckie riding around McMurdo Valley might be the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

Coco and I are settled into our new work-and-home lives by the time I give birth to my final child.

Walla Walla really wants a girl. He lights candles, does naked dances under the moonlight, and regularly talks to my belly. By then, our baby’s already created. None of his delightful antics will change what we have, but I adore how much he gets his hopes up.

However, Walla Walla does get his daughter. Emma Poe’s even born with red hair like he hoped.

“I think I might have magical powers,” he tells Goose when she witnesses how he got his mini-Austen.

“Has every bit of good luck we’ve ever had just been you wishing shit into existence?” she asks as if convinced.

Coco and I share a smile while I cuddle with a jealous Folsom and remind him how his daddy’s arms are big enough to hold both babies.

Walla Walla hears my words and offers a wonderful smile. He’s gotten the family and home he always wanted with the woman he long dreamed to be his.

As for me, I haven’t completely healed. I still tend to see Hunter as the kid sister I failed. I’m prone to call my mommy for advice when I’m overwhelmed. Yet, I can’t suffer from any real regrets.

If things didn’t happen exactly like they did, I’d be without Walla Walla’s love. He proved to be the catalyst to this incredible life. Without him, I’d still be living with my mom and talking about moving out. A baby would seem possible yet out of reach. No doubt hearing of Urick’s death would have crushed me. I can’t bear to think of what my life would have been like if Walla Walla hadn’t traveled to Banta City to save me.

This incredible, complicated, sexy man saw me and fell hard. I sometimes can’t believe how much he loves me, but there’s no denying his feelings. When the opportunity arose to claim my heart, he was a man on a mission.

Walla Walla pushed and pushed and pushed until I should have broken. With anyone else, I would have. To win my dream man, I toughened up and took charge of my life.

The rewards for breaking through my pain and fear have been nonstop perfection.

MARTIN’S EPILOGUE

My life wasn’t a tragedy. Though my parents sucked, I managed to enjoy most of my childhood. As an adult, I’ve been flush with cash and surrounded by good friends. Yet, Austen proves to be a godsend.

I often feel as if my life held no meaning before her love. My lovesick routine would seem sillier if I hadn’t witnessed the same magic in my club family. Each one was perfectly fine before they fell hard for their woman.

Then, each one saw their woman—across a parking lot or meadow, during a job interview, waitressing at a bar, at a Pigsty party, or standing in front of a soon-to-be-destroyed veterinarian clinic—and the world shifted under their feet.

I had that moment much earlier than any of them. Austen stole something inside me before she was old enough to claim what I’d so willingly give away. Yet, fate kept us apart for far longer than I sometimes feel is fair. Austen often says she wasn’t ready for me. I’ve claimed the same thing. Whether those words are true or not, I feel as if we’re making up for lost time.

Our house takes forever to build. McMurdo Valley sees so many changes over the next few years. Hobo’s house comes first. The club buys more businesses. We build the community for the security team. Renovations are made on a location for Austen’s new veterinarian clinic. Through it all, our house inches closer to completion.

The Craftsman-style home is a beauty. Leaving the Pigsty was always going to be tricky. That was the first place to ever feel like a home. The people within its walls were my first real family.

Yet, my new home holds enough similarities for me to avoid feeling homesick. The mansion offers high ceilings, tons of rustic, almost masculine touches, plenty of big windows, and mimics the best features from Suzanne’s place, Urick’s ranch, and the Pigsty.

Though the mansion occasionally seems larger than we need, Suzanne never visits without her entourage.

The Carter family is oddly curious about my new house. During the construction process, I regularly catch them on security footage. They drive up the road during off hours and even walk around the site.

They’ve likely decided I’m more respectable since I married Urick Halvorson’s daughter. I know they’re curious about my son. At the grocery store, one of my sisters nearly engages with me while I’m picking up something with Folsom in tow. I give her a disapproving frown and walk away.

Unlike my brilliant, beautiful wife, I have no intention of forgiving old sins. I was a perfectly adorable, likable child. Any normal family would have loved to claim me as a member. However, I was never good enough for the Carter family. Even after I held power in McMurdo Valley, my siblings scowled at me as I rode by.

Now, I’m married to a Halvorson. Urick’s long gone. Erik lives in another state. Peter is buried in a deep grave. The Canary Basin ranch is run by Mack.

The Halvorson family’s influence might have diminished if Austen didn’t live in McMurdo Valley. She runs several animal-themed charity events. Austen also finances riding lessons for dozens of children.

Despite her charity work, locals claim the fiery redhead is intimidating and throws a mean punch.

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