His nurses at the rehab center were great people, and Pumpkin had even shared some flirtatious glances with a few. Maybe when he was feeling better, he’d come back and take one or two on a date to prove he wasentirelyhealed.
Per tradition of someone getting discharged, the center had gifted him a fruit basket with balloons. Since they were all familiar with his situation as well as SJ, there was also a teddy bear in the basket for his son. Pumpkin had a suspicion that that wasn’t standard for the send-off baskets.
He was now sitting in his wheelchair with SJ on his lap while Frankie finished packing his suitcase. Bear, who was a registered nurse, and his ol’ lady Tessa, who was an emergency room doctor, were collecting all Pumpkin’s discharge orders, medications, and unfortunately, medical equipment. If he never saw another plastic urinal container again, he’d be a very happy man indeed. The club never let Frankie come on her own. Not that they doubted her capabilities, but after the past couple of years, it never hurt to be on the safe side. Pumpkin was very okay with the extra security for his son and the woman who was helping to take care of him. Plus, who better to understand his medications and limits than a doctor and a nurse?
SJ was playing with his new teddy bear. He was making “da-da-da” sounds, which was the best sound in the world. Pumpkin hoped one of these days he was going to fully say ‘dad’ to him.
Whoever thought Pumpkin would love being a father? Certainlynot him. When Bear had given him the news that the DNA tests had revealed Pumpkin was the father…? Well, fuck. He had not reacted well. There’d even been a moment when he’d contemplated running. Handing in his cut and hitting the road. Never to look back. What the fuck did he know about fatherhood? His own father had left him and his mother for the fucker’s secretary when Pumpkin had been a small boy. When the man had tried to show up to his mom’s funeral, Pumpkin had decked him before, literally, throwing the man out of the church.
Pumpkin knew that his son would be taken care of. The club wouldn’t abandon him, and he’d be raised better that way. Or that had been what Pumpkin had tried to convince himself. He’d even had a bag ready to be packed.
But something had stopped him. An instinct he’d honed over the years tonotturn into his father.
His mom had made mistakes. She’d struggled, sacrificed, and worked herself to the bone to provide for him. She hadn’t been the perfect mom—butshe’d been there. She’d shown up to every game, every function; she’d helped him with his homework and taken extra shifts to pay for his field trips, sports equipment, and had even bought candy when he had a team fundraiser. Later, he’d discovered that she’d once given up months’ worth of bus money to help him win a fundraising competition so he could get tickets to a Browns game.
His mom had meanteverythingto Pumpkin. And it wasn’t like she’d had any experience. It wasn’t as if she’d had a baby knowing she’d become a struggling, single mom.
So Pumpkin had stayed, and thank fuck he had. Or he would have missed out on knowing the most perfect little boy. Hisson. After the military, he thought the VDMC had been his destiny. To watch and protect his brothers as he had done for the last decade of his life. But now?
Looking down at the little boy on his lap with his two bottom teeth, floppy brown hair, and big brown eyes, Pumpkin knew he’d been mistaken. His entire life had been leading to being this boy’s father.
He wouldn’t be perfect, but he’d bethere. Every milestone, every fall, every reward, every hardship, he’d be there. A cruel twist of fate had tried to take Pumpkin from SJ, but he’d prevailed. He’d survived. And every day since, he’d been working to rebuild his life so he could provide the very best one he could for his son.
“Ready?”
Pumpkin turned his attention to Frankie, who was standing with Pumpkin’s rolling suitcase. He guessed Bear and Tessa were out in the hallway.
He nodded. “Can you take SJ?”
Frankie’s eyes narrowed. “Are you still planning on walking out of here? It wouldn’t kill you to use the wheelchair. It’s a very long way to the car.”
“I amwalkingout of here,” he growled without malice. “I’ll push SJ in the wheelchair if it’ll make you feel better, but I amwalkingout of here.” He’d fuckingcrawlbefore he was pushed out of here. He’d earned this.
Frankie picked SJ up from Pumpkin’s lap, settling him on her hip. In her early twenties, she had black wavy hair, pale skin, and blue-green eyes. When she’d come to the club a year ago, Pumpkin would have called her unhealthily thin. He didn’t know her full backstory, but he knew she’d just come out of a years-long relationship that had ended badly. Now, she had a fuller figure, and had even put on a little muscle. Lifting multiple babies daily and for long periods of time could do that.
Since the brakes were already set, Pumpkin carefully worked his feet to lift up the footrests. He squared his shoulders, knowing the muscles it would take to accomplish the task he’d assigned himself. He tried to remind himself of just how far he’d come. On his bad days when his frustration was at its highest, one of the nurses would show him pictures of his injuries as well as the ones of him on life support. It was a reminder of just how close to death he’d been, and how much time it was going to take to get his full strength back. Hell, he hadn’t even been able to talk the first few weeks of being awake because of the dental equipment in his mouth to remove his shattered teeth andplace in the new implants. Something that he also knew had to have cost a pretty penny.
But even knowing how far he’d come, it still didn’t change the fact that he was a former Marine, a marathon runner, and a boxing champion. Or he had been. So much had changed so quickly.
Pumpkin stood, refusing to feel sorry for himself. Not today.Todayhe was going home.
The rehab center had a tradition of setting up the staff in the hall to celebrate a patient’s discharge from their facility, but Pumpkin had requested a silent exit. He didnotneed the fanfare. Not when he knew what was waiting for him at the clubhouse. Despite his request not to, there was no way the ol’ ladiesweren’tplanning something for him. They didn’t know how to have a ‘quiet gathering’.
Pumpkin guessed he could sleep on the ride back to Mount Grove. But he was very aware of what his body could and could not do right now, and he had a good guess that even sitting in the car for a drive, sleeping or not, was going to exhaust him.
Once he was standing, Pumpkin checked his balance before he slowly walked around to the back of the wheelchair. He was wearing lace-less sneakers, the dexterity in his fingers not quite what it was. Also bending at the waist was still harder than he wished it was.
Giving Frankie an impatient look like she was the hold up, he swept one hand to the open door of his, now former, rehab room. Frankie gave him an unamused look before grabbing the handle of his suitcase and heading towards the door with SJ still on her hip.
As Pumpkin watched the way SJ was playing with her hair, he felt a pang of regret. SJ would never know his mom. Never understand why he had so many amazing aunts, uncles, and cousins, but not a mom. It was the one thing Pumpkin couldn’t give his son. Frankie would make a great mom one day, and Pumpkin knew she wanted to have kids of her own in the future. It was a shame he didn’t feel anything romantic towards her. It would have made things so simple, even if falling for his nanny would have been horribly clichéd.
Pumpkin made his way into the hall—and froze. True to the staff’s word, they were not lined up down the hallway to see him off. Whichwas a good thing, because they wouldn’t havefit.Fucking hell. TheentireVia Daemonia MC family filled the hall. How the fuck had he not heard them enter? They weren’t exactly a quiet bunch.
Not only were the members, ol’ ladies, and club kids in the hall, but so were family members, like Carlos and Zoe, Bear’s parents, Deputy Danny, and even Keys’ new business partner, Tom, and Tom’s wife, Simone. Fuck, evenScarwas in attendance, though he had his face buried in his fiancée’s thick black hair like he was trying to hide from the world.
The expression on Frankie’s face wasn’t surprised. Neither was Bear’s or Tessa’s.
Pumpkin shook his head, feeling both elated and a bit embarrassed to see everyone like this. “You guys didn’t have to come.”
