Lock and Key (50 page)

I wore a strapless cream-colored floor length gown with narrow pleats and a thin lilac silk ribbon at the waist. Underneath I wore an amazing cream-colored corset that Lenore had made for me. (And later that evening Miller showed me his appreciation for it with great enthusiasm.) At the church I wore a faux fur wheat-colored bolero jacket over the dress, which I took off at the party. Unfortunately, I had on extremely high heels for the ceremony which I did not feel comfortable in, but Alicia and Dee insisted I wear. Ray caught on to my ineptitude with heels right away.

He held my one hand and put his other arm around me. “Hold on tight, girl,” he whispered as we started down the aisle.

As soon as we got to Dead Ringer’s I tossed the stilettos off at Alicia. She handed me my pair of brand new and very amazing rust-colored leather cowboy boots embroidered with different colored flowers I had splurged on at Pepper’s to suit the occasion. Of course I made sure the band played plenty of country music.

“You don’t know how much your sister wanted this for you,” Alex whispered in my ear as we danced.

“I know she did.”

“She’s smiling down on you, Grace.”

I hugged my brother-in-law and planted a kiss on his cheek. “I can feel it, Alex.”

“You sure you’re okay with the arrangement?”

“I love the arrangement. Never doubt that. Miller is, too. He’s thrilled for Jake to be living with us. He’s already hired a contractor to build the additions to the house. I’m sure both of them will probably turn the play room into a man cave.”

The kitchen was turning out great with new hardwood cabinets, wood flooring and granite countertops to match the one on the island Miller had already installed. The stainless steel appliances had just arrived and were huge, gleaming and begging to be used.

Willy built a mantel for the fireplace out of layers of stone. I had found two incredible frames made of driftwood from a local gift shop and had Miller’s small painting of a dark butterfly along with his portrait of Grandma Kim encased in them and I hung them over the mantle. They were the perfect blaze of color in an otherwise calm, earth-toned room.

I had finally found the photo of Miller and Wreck with the Indian. I had it enlarged and mounted in a black frame and hung it along the wall in the hallway along with other prints of a teenage Miller in his high school football uniform, and Miller in uniform shipping out to Kosovo hugging Wreck good-bye. There was another photo of a young Miller with Wreck, Dig and Boner working on bikes in the shed, too. I had never seen that one before. I also put up a photo of me and Ruby at her high school graduation, me squeezing the life out of her, and another of Ruby, Alex and Jake when he had taken his first steps.

Three of the nude sketches Miller had drawn of me I had also framed and hung in our bedroom. All the others, and there were plenty more he drew later, many of which were not for public viewing, I stored in a large leather file box with special tissue paper in between each one to preserve them.

What few belongings I had were now installed in our house. For good.

“I’m so grateful to the both of you,” Alex said. “I have to take this assignment on site in North Dakota. All the work I’ve been doing over the past two years has been leading up to this. When Ruby got sick they let me delay it.”

“Alex, there’s barely any housing up there for families, and as a single dad how are you going to take care of Jake while you’re going to be so busy? It makes sense to leave him with us. And I look forward to coming up for visits. It’s not that far away.”

He only nodded and averted his gaze.

“We’re family, honey,” I said. “You do what you have to do, we’ll be right here. Miller and I want to be a big part of Jake’s life.” I planted a kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for letting us be.”

Alex’s hand on my back tightened as we moved to the music.

“By the way, it’s official.” My voice piped up as my fingers smoothed down the crisp white collar of Alex’s dress shirt. “Ray sold his house in Montana, and he signed the papers to buy that small house he was looking at in town.”

Alex let out a sigh. “I’ve got to hand it to him, Grace. He wants to be here for you and Jake. It’s good. My son gets to have a grandpa. How do you feel about it?”

“Don’t tell anyone,” I whispered in his ear. “But I’m glad.”

After the wedding we splurged and headed to New Zealand for an amazing three week honeymoon full of sun, swimming and incredible bike touring. Soon after we returned Ray completed his move back to Meager. He sent me to a lawyer in Rapid City who informed me that my father had set up a very generous trust fund for Jake of which I was the trustee, and a brokerage account for me. I was to use the money any way I deemed fit.

So I did.

I invested in our new life.

Miller resigned as Road Captain of the One-Eyed Jacks and requested to minimize his role in the club. “I want to take care of my family,” he told his brothers. They all agreed with him. We bought out 70% of Wreck’s Repair from the club and renamed it Eagle Wings. Naturally, Miller designed a kick-ass logo and the lettering to match. The shed got a much-needed renovation and expansion and now included a shop and office space with a new computer to keep track of everything. Lock outfitted the new building with a whole range of updated equipment and tools in order to better handle all his custom detailing work and paint jobs.

Miller officially hired Tricky to head the car repair division and Taylor, an army buddy of his who had become a hot rod specialist over the years, came up from North Carolina. I hired a web designer to set up a snazzy web site, and I placed advertising in newspapers and biker and hot rod magazines nationwide.

I liked Miller’s logo so much, I even had caps and t-shirts made with it to sell at the shop. I hired Suzi part-time to keep the office organized and give me as much free time as possible to deal with the renovation at home and spend time with Jake.

“How much longer until that turkey is ready?” Jump asked. “Too many bitches in the kitchen!” Jump said.

He slumped into the sofa next to Boner and Bear and glared at the television screen. His favorite football team had fumbled the ball again.

“Oh, shut it, Grump.” I handed him another bottle of beer and squeezed his shoulder. Alicia rolled her eyes as she and Mary Lynn filled the large salad bowl with the freshly dressed tossed greens, scallions and dried cranberries. Suzi was whisking my home-made gravy over the now splattered stainless steel stove top.

Miller pulled me into his lap on the roomy armchair, and I put an arm around his shoulders. “Half an hour tops, I swear,” I said. “Mary Lynn’s sweet potato pie needs more baking underneath.”

“I’m not worried, Martha Stewart. Seems like you’ve got it all under control in there.”

“Some things I do, yeah,” I said.

Miller squeezed my hip. “What is it?”

“Nothing.”

“Tell me.”

“It’s just…”

“Grace, talk to me.”

I leaned into his neck. “I want to give you a family,” I whispered.

His body stilled, his eyes locked on mine. “Grace…”

“A baby,” I whispered.

He ran the back of his knuckles down the side of my face. “What’s this about?”

“I want to make you happy. The happiest ever.”

“Babe, I’m delirious.”

“I want to give
that
to you, too.”

“Grace, I was unwanted from before I was born. I never let myself dream that one day I’d even have one bit of what we have now.”

My lips brushed the side of his face. “You know you need to be grateful that your dad, for all his faults, took you from your mom,” I said. “Because you wouldn’t have had the reservation or your Grandma for as long as you did and when you did. He wasn’t a good dad, but he did that for you.”

“This is true,” he said. “But all that shit is eclipsed by you.”

“Eclipsed?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “You like that?”

I grinned at him.

“I know this,” he said. “That you want me for me, for who I am, not for something you think I am or what you want out of me. Never had that from a woman before, Grace. Never.”

“I love you,” I blurted out.

“I know!” He let out a small laugh. “Babe, I don’t feel like I’m missing anything. Is that…”

“I just wish I could give you a baby. Yours and mine. I wish I could give you that, give us that,” I whispered. “Am I being greedy? I love having Jake be a part of our family. He’s a blessing I never expected.”

“He is,” Miller said. Our lips touched, his hand stroked my middle. “I would love a kid with you, Grace. Of course I would. But that decision was taken away from us.” His hand went to my hip and squeezed “You want to adopt?”

My gaze followed Jake who buzzed around the house being chased by a red-faced Melinda and a giggling Carrie. The candied, spicy scent of the pie filled the air and laced perfectly with the savory roasted aroma of the turkey and Alicia’s homemade biscuits, which already blanketed the entire house.

“Babe?”

“There’s surrogacy,” I said.

His eyes widened. “Yes, there is.”

“Unless you think we’re too old?”

“Hell no. Do you?”

I shook my head.

“Have you looked into it?” he asked.

“No,” I bit my lip, and my fingers smoothed over his shoulder. “I wanted to talk to you first. Of course, as our house is now full of guests for the very first time, and we’re about to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, it’s probably not the best time.”

He smiled at me and his fingers dug into my leg. “Look into it.”

“Wes!” Jake shrieked. “Wes! Help me! They’ve got cooties!”

“Got you, little man.” Wes scooped up Jake, tossed him in the air, and they both hooted with laughter.

“Is that my Nova?”

Bill’s eyes creased, his gaze darted at Karen then back to the shiny hot muscle car spinning around the club track with Miller at the wheel. Karen smiled broadly and shot me a look like she was going to pop any minute now.

Miller had not only amped up, but tricked out Bill’s Chevy Nova. Going over Karen’s budget, but figuring it was well worth the potential word of mouth marketing, Miller had put in some extras out of his own pocket. He and Taylor cleaned up the car inside and out, repaired any minor damages and updated key details in the interior, making everything glossy and sharp. Luckily, Bill had kept his car in good shape and finely tuned over the years. Tricky had installed a new transmission and cleaned up the engine that was still in pretty good condition.

Miller had updated the exterior of the Nova with a brand new midnight blue paint job and detailed it with silver and black scallops and pin stripes down the hood and across the sides reminiscent of 70’s muscle car glory, Bill’s favorite decade.

“Karen… what the hell is going on?” Bill asked, his face red.

“Happy birthday, honey!” Karen squealed and threw her arms around her husband’s neck. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Miller roared past us once more. I elbowed Tricky in the ribs. Jake hopped up and down whooping and clapping. He raised his hand at Tricky and the two of them high-fived each other.