weird,” River asks, “having a teenager back in the house?”
I reach for Cali’s hand. “No. It feels right. Doesn’t it? Like it was meant to be?”
Calico nods. “It feels like we are finally home.”
Epilogue 1
Calico
Three months later…
The farmhouse is bursting with people. All our family from the Heartlands is here today, to celebrate. It’s surreal being a bride. It’s something I dreamed about as a little girl, but now it is here, happening. I’m going to be Conley’s wife.
“You look beautiful,” Ruby says as she sets the veil on my head, smoothing the tulle down my back. “This dress is so gorgeous.”
“Thanks,” I say. “Conley insisted that I go all out.”
Ruby smiles. Her little sister, Lydia, is with us. Ruby was the first woman in the Heartlands I connected with, and we quickly became friends. She’s the opposite of me in so many ways — she and Lydia grew up so sheltered, without really knowing the darkness of the world, but when her life turned upside down, she found a safe haven here too. And in the end, you don’t have to come from the same place to end up in the same family.
And we are family, every one us, family members of the Heartlands MC.
“When I get married,” Lydia says, handing me my bouquet, “I’m gonna go somewhere like Vegas. Elope.”
Ruby’s eyes get wide. “You’re not even eighteen. Don’t talk like that.”
Lydia laughs. “I can do what I want. You certainly did.”
I laugh, shaking my head. “Lydia, there is no reason to rush into anything,” I say. “When I was your age I had River and—”
She cuts me off with the lift of her eyebrow — she has an edge I don’t think Ruby realizes. “But you love River with all your heart. You don’t regret him.”
“That’s true,” I say as we walk down the farmhouse stairs, toward the ceremony in the back yard. “I guess the most important thing is to follow your heart.”
“Don’t put ideas in her head,” Ruby laughs. “Lydia is going to graduate high school this spring and head off to college.”
I smile, thinking Ruby is going about this all wrong. I’ve been a mother long enough to know that people have to come to decisions like that on their own. Pushing them in a direction they aren’t wanting or ready to go in will only lead to heartache.
“I will put one more idea into your heads — tonight, at the reception, dance, please,” I say with a grin. “I want everyone on the dance floor. I want a real party.”
“You got it, Calico,” Ruby says, squeezing my hand. “I’ll make sure those bikers cut loose, even if it means pouring shots for all of them first.”
We walk through the front of the house and round the corner toward the field where all the guests are waiting. “Thank you for helping,” I tell the sisters before they walk to their seats.
Then I turn toward River, who is waiting to take my arm. My boy, looking so grown up in his suit, his hair cut and combed. “Oh, River,” I say, tears already pooling in my eyes. “You look so handsome.”
“Mom, don’t embarrass me,” he says with a small laugh. “But thanks. You look really pretty.”
I look down at the white organza gown, the full skirt, the beaded bodice. I feel like I am walking into a fairy tale. This is all so much more grand than I ever imagined.
“Are you nervous?” he asks me.
I shake my head, looking down the aisle, Troy Conley waiting for me in a suit and tie. “Not even a little.”
River grins. “Good, because Mom, Troy is a really good man, and I don’t think I could let you marry anyone less than that.”
My heart melts at my son’s thoughtful words, and as the wedding march begins, the members of the club stand, watching reverently as I walk down the aisle toward the man they all admire so very much. Troy has their respect, and he has mine too. But more than that, he has my heart. All of it.
When I reach him, Wrath, the club chaplain, asks who is giving me away and River clears his throat, saying he is. River gives me a kiss on the cheek and I hear the collective sigh from everyone watching.
Conley pulls back the veil, and my heart melts. He has eyes for me and me alone.
“God, you look beautiful,” he groans.
Heat crawls up my spine, and I wish we could run away from