Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 92067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
So, in all, it’s been a very busy two weeks.
“Ow!”
“Gabby?”
“I’m okay, probably more growing pains,” she says, her voice betraying the pain.
I get down on my knees in front of her. “I’m thinking we should go to the doctor and get you checked out to be safe.”
“I’m fine, King. You just worry too much.”
“I do. That’s why we’re going to go to the doctor.”
“King.”
“Please, baby. Let me make sure my woman is okay.”
“King,” she repeats, intent on arguing.
“Please,” I beg again. She studies my face, and I see the exact moment that she gives in.
“Fine, but you’re being ridiculous,” she mutters.
“Better safe than sorry.”
“Oh, God, you’re starting to sound like my Aunt Katie.”
“She’s the shit, baby.”
Gabby rolls her eyes but doesn’t argue. I reach out and help my woman stand. She’s barely stood up when water splashes around her feet.
“Damn it,” she hisses, grabbing her stomach.
“Gabby, honey?”
“My water just broke, and the pain is back. I think I’m in labor, King,” she whispers, gripping her stomach. I don’t wait for her to finish. I pick her up and start jogging through the house while I’m carrying her. “What are you doing?” she cries, sounding panicked.
“Taking you to the hospital,” I tell her as we head out the front door.
“But my stuff,” she huffs.
“Your overnight bag is already in my truck. We’ll call everyone on our way to the hospital,” I mumble as I put her inside the truck and then dash to the driver’s side.
Once in the truck, I hold her hand over the middle console, and I keep holding it all the way to the hospital.
Our jellybean is finally going to come say hi to Mommy and Daddy. Just when I think life can’t get any better, it does. Loving Gabriella Cruz hasn’t only made my life complete.
It’s made it worth living.
Chapter 40
Gabby
“She’s beautiful,” I whisper.
King reaches down and lets his fingers sift through the shock of blonde hair on our daughter’s head. I don’t know if it’s divine intervention, if the Man Upstairs decided I’d suffered enough, or what. All I know is that our daughter, Miss Kinsley Etta West looks completely like her mother and none of the man who raped me. He’d never be her father. She will never know about him. God willing, we will never tell her a damn thing about that monster. King is her dad. He’ll be there for her and that’s who will love her with everything in him.
I named her Kinsley because it was the closest that I could think to King. King demanded we name her Etta after Etta James. It’s a beautiful name and it fits her. Surprisingly, it was also an easy delivery. Labor was quick and the pain wasn’t bad at all—even if I couldn’t use an epidural because I’d already progressed too much by the time we got to the hospital.
“I’m going to have to keep my gun handy to keep the boys away,” King mutters. “Our Etta looks just like her mom.”
I smile up at him, loving that he thinks that, and definitely loving how much he adores our daughter. “Any regrets or worries, King?”
“Not a fucking one,” he whispers leaning down to kiss me gently.
“You know I love you,” I murmur.
“I love you, too, Sunshine.”
“Do you think our house will be ready when we get out of here?”
“I know it will. BB has the prospects fixing up the baby room today. Yellows and grays, just like you wanted, and on the wall opposite the crib Katie and your mom painted giant sunflowers. You’re going to love it.”
“Thank you for moving to Kentucky and giving all this a chance,” I whisper, because it still takes my breath away everything that King has done just to give me and Etta everything we could want.
“Don’t tell your dad—or your damn brother—but I love being here. The club is going to take a fuck of a lot of work, but it’s good. I like the men. I love what we’re working towards together. I also love our house.”
“I still can’t believe we bought a house,” I mutter, mostly because I can’t. King was adamant once he decided to take over the club. He wanted to move us in a big house that we could grow our family in. He didn’t want to move a hundred times. He said it was important for our kids to have a childhood he never had—which meant a real home and security in knowing it would always be there. We found a log cabin with huge windows and a fireplace in the great room. It’s just down the road from the Devil’s Blaze clubhouse, which is more than convenient. It has five bedrooms—which was a little scary, but King said it’s better to have too many bedrooms than too few. I agreed with him. We got it way below market value because it was in a bank short sale. The owners were getting divorced, and the house had to go quick. The most shocking thing about that was that King paid cash for it—making my eyes pop out of my head. He explained that he’d been a full member of a club for years and didn’t spend a lot of money. He sunk a mint in a restaurant, for Shelby’s grandmother, but Shelby and her grandmother threw the gift back in their face, so the club paid him back for the property—since they originally owned it before King bought it outright. That meant he had the cash. It also meant we wouldn’t have a mortgage over our head. If my mom and dad didn’t love him before—they certainly do now. All this means, that once we leave the hospital, we’ll be a family in our new house. Incidentally, the house also has a huge deck that overlooks the mountainside and no neighbors around—just in case my man gets the notion to piss off of it. Just the thought makes me laugh.