Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 81328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81328 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 325(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Penelope runs across the lawn until she reaches me out of breath, her frog still in her hand. My eyes zone in on the green tattered stuffed animal and it occurs to me that I’m the scorpion, is she the frog? Am I bad news for her or am I looking into this too much?
“Delilah!” Piper’s voice has me come to and a wide-eyed Penelope looking at me with a question in her eyes.
“Yes, baby, what do you need?” Sitting up, I grab her little hand and smile back at her.
“Can I go for a ride?” She points her little finger to the left and both Piper and I look, finding Lee’s motorcycle parked in the driveway. A big sly smile crosses my face.
“Hell yeah!”
“What, are you serious? Don’t you think she’s too young?” Piper stands, her motherly instincts making her sound like a pussy.
“She’s four, she’s ready to ride.” Taking Penelope’s hand, we go inside finding Saint and Lee in the living room talking television size to put on the wall.
“Someone wants her first ride.” I look down at my daughter who has a big grin on her face.
“Really?” Lee turns away from Saint, completely done with what they were talking about.
“Ride! Ride!” Penelope jumps up and down, her little black dress and black boots the cutest thing I’ve seen on a kid. She got a whole new wardrobe and Uncle Zane bought a lot of leather biker shit.
Bending down, he grabs her under the arms and heads toward outside.
“Okay, but just up the road and back,” he tells her and she replies, but I can’t hear their conversation being outside.
Catching up to them, Lee is on his motorcycle with Penelope in front of him. Using his feet, he slowly pushes them backward out of the driveway, both of them smiling like fools. He starts the engine and a loud roar fills the neighborhood. Penelope’s face looks worried for a second, the sound scary, I’m sure. Lee bends down and whispers something into her ear, and she nods and holds on to the gas tank just before he slowly takes off. Walking into the road, I watch them drive off into the sunset, Piper right beside me.
“Well, I gotta say out of all the secrets you could have had… that little girl was the best one, babe.”
Laughing, she throws her arm around my shoulders and I smile in response. “And Big Chief? I never would have thought you would have picked a cowboy!”
I shrug, crossing my arms.
“I looked at him as a friend until I realized I loved him.”
“That’s how it all starts,” Piper whispers, kissing me on the temple. I’m speechless how my life has turned out in the last month. It seems like just yesterday I was a kid sitting in my room with a bottle of Jack I’d stolen from my dad’s club, I never thought I’d be in love or have a kid of my own. I hated everyone and wanted to run far away. Little did I know everyone I love and my perfect place was here the whole time.
It’s crazy how life takes you in a full circle only to bring you back home.
Epilogue
Delilah
Two Months Later
Singing to the music playing through the speakers, I had Lip install a painted piece of mermaid scales along the side of a Sportster. A woman who is probably a bigger badass than anyone I know wants it and I love it. I’ve loved playing with the metallic colors and it’s coming together perfectly.
The back door that leads into the office opens and Piper walks out. She works the desk for me and has so many projects coming my way, I might have to hire another painter. She goes to the stereo in the wall and turns my music off.
Growling, I pull down my face mask and glare at her.
“Doc is having her baby.”
I drop the air gun.
“Now?”
She nods with a big smile. Shit, I need to tell Mom. Bobby and Doc had tried forever before finally getting pregnant. Going inside, I head up the stairs to the loft and find Mom watching TV and Penelope on the floor putting a puzzle together. It looks like a daycare up here with all the toys and colorful shit lying around. Mom and Pen hang out here when I’m working, and it’s became Pen’s little kid world. We almost fell asleep up here one night watching Minions but Lee came and picked us up and took us back to his place. He’s always there; always.
“Did you hear Doc is having her baby?”
Mom stands, dropping a bag of Cheetos onto the floor.
“Now!”
I silently nod.
Mom looks to Penelope, and I can tell she feels conflicted about what to do. Having a baby can take hours and taking Penelope to a hospital for that long would be hard.