“That’s my girl,” Maggie said with a laugh. She plated the bacon with a few flicks of the fork. “You want to try and eat something before you go?”
“Ugh. No, thanks.” Ava went to kiss Mercy goodbye. She had decided, Maggie noticed with an inner smile, that she wasn’t going to blush and slink around in front of her father and brother. She was married and she was going to kiss her husband full on the lips when she told him goodbye, no matter who was watching.
“Good luck today,” she told Mercy as she drew back.
“You too.” He made an apologetic face. “And you might wanna pop a Tic-Tac.”
“Shit,” Ava muttered. “Alright, I’m off.”
“Be careful,” Ghost admonished.
“Love you, good luck,” Maggie called.
Then it was just her and the three boys. She smiled as she brought the bacon to the table, earning three curious looks for it.
“What?” Ghost asked.
“Nothing. Just thinking what a cute picture you all make. Family togetherness,” she said in a false, saccharine voice. “Isn’t it beautiful?”
She laughed when they all rolled their eyes in perfect unison.
“You withdrew from all your classes,” Mrs. Waltham said, clasping her hands together on top of her desk blotter. Over on the file cabinet, the calico goldfish fumbled through their bowl, scales shimmering. They were more fun to watch than Mrs. Waltham’s questioning expression, but Ava forced herself to maintain eye contact, swallowing another surge of nausea. She clasped the arms of her chair with clammy palms and thought calm, cool thoughts, willing her stomach to quiet.
“Yes, ma’am. I didn’t want to, but my husband had a terrible motorcycle accident, and I needed to put my time toward his recovery. It wouldn’t have been fair to him or my studies to try and do both at once.”
“Hmm. I see.”
“So,” Ava pressed on with a deep breath, “I was hoping I might be able to sign up for spring classes. I would still very much like to earn my master’s and…”
Mrs. Waltham was smiling. “Relax, dear. This isn’t the Spanish Inquisition. I saw that there was some…drama…encircling your…family, and it didn’t surprise me that you’d withdrawn.”
Ava winced. “Is this the part when you tell me that the grad program has no need of biker wives?”
“No.” She snorted. “This is the part where I tell you that I read your new piece while you were out in the waiting room.” She leaned across the desk, eyes twinkling. “I love it.”
The burst of relief eased the tension in her gut. “You do?”
“With your last story, ‘Falling,’ you revive the Byronic hero. And with this new one, ‘Fearless,’ you manage to give him a happy ending. It’s interesting.” She propped her chin on a fist. “Most of the time, a hero like that doesn’t get the girl.”
Ava twitched a small smile. “I think that’s because they don’t have the rightkindof girl.”
Mercy received the hugs and the back-slaps gladly from his brothers, grateful no one made a big fuss. Ghost rested a hand briefly on his shoulder, a quiet, inclusive gesture of support, before he said, “Alright, let’s head in,” to the group of them.
Mercy felt the anticipatory shiver as he stepped into the chapel, that old feeling this room had always inspired in him, almost like that little spark of energy when Ava’s hand hovered above his skin, right before she touched him. A sacred room, steeped in the immediate traditions of this century, and those of centuries past, an echo of Arthur and his knights pulling up chairs at the Round Table.
When they were all seated, even Troy, puffing away on what might be his last cigarette, Ghost settled in, and Littlejohn shut the door from the outside.
“First off,” Ghost said. “A little good news, I think, given the last couple of months. Merc, you’ve got two things to celebrate, yeah?”
All eyes came down to him at the foot of the table. He felt a faint fluttering of nerves as he lifted his left hand, touched his thumb to the new gold band on his fourth finger. Everyone nodded; they already knew he was married, but this was Ghost’s way of accepting it officially within the club. Ava was his old lady now. She was to be given the proper respect and homage as such.
“And,” Mercy said, “we’re expecting.”
Only Ghost and Aidan knew that part, and the group erupted in a burst of table slapping and sharp barks of congratulatory laughter.
“That’s some deal the courthouse is giving out,” RJ teased. “Buy one marriage license, get the first baby free.”
Rottie cuffed his friend playfully from the side. “Congrats, man,” he told Mercy. “You guys deserve that.”
