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Prologue
“Thomas! Look at her!”
When I’m with Sally, I’m Thomas. There’s no warning tone in her voice when she calls my name here in her world. When I’m at the club in Willow’s Peak, I’m Pope. I’m the same person, but I’m not. Thomas is a partner to a wonderful, understanding woman, and I’m a father. Pope is a brother who has the backs of each and every single man wearing the Lost Souls patch and doesn’t have a single boundary when it comes to protecting the ones he cares about.
Sally is on her knees, and our daughter is taking her first steps toward her. I put down the screwdriver I’ve been using to fix up the kitchen cupboards while I’m in town, reach for the camcorder, and start recording. I enjoy the joy on Sally’s face, but it’s my girl reaching a huge milestone in her life that has me swelling with pride. I still can’t believe this little girl is a part of me. With all her smiles and giggles, how she prefers to fall asleep with a cuddle, her being stroked as she drifts off to her sweet dreams. I put her innocence and purity down to being from her mother. I keep waiting for the day her darkness creeps out and shows its ugly face. That’s the part I would’ve handed down. If Iwere a praying man, I’d pray that day never comes, but I’m not. I have hope. I hope that if the day should happen to arrive, I’ll see it early, and I can steer her back toward her mother.
Kyla takes another three steps, and her legs wobble.
“Stay close to her, she might fall and hurt herself,” I grunt, torn between wanting to capture this moment on tape and wanting to scoop her up into my arms, where she’s always safe.
“Oh, Thomas, she’ll be fine,” Sally assures me.
She takes two more steps before she sways back and forth and falls back on her butt. I turn the camcorder onto Sally, and a smile creeps along my mouth, catching the tears of joy in her eyes. She lives for these moments, and I live for both of them. The fear I felt when Kyla was born has dulled, but only by a fraction. It’s gotten easier over the last year, but I doubt the worry for this kid will ever completely disappear. Between my semi-version of life here with Sally and Kyla and the life I have back in Willow’s Peak with the club, I can only conclude I have the best of both worlds. Two worlds I never saw coming together, and I worked hard to keep them from meeting. If it wasn’t for Michael Blake bringing me into the club, I’d hate to think where I’d be now. The club was my savior.
“You’re such a big girl now,” I say to Kyla as I kneel down and pass the camcorder to Sally.
“Da-da-da.”
Fuck. Those three syllables gut me every time she utters them. I’m her father, and she isn’t afraid of me. She’s the only soul who isn’t. Sally doesn’t fear me, but she fears the life I lead and knows I won’t give it up. When Kyla looks up at me with her innocent eyes, she makes me feel like a goddamn hero. A role I never aspired to be.
“I think it’s your bedtime, sweet girl.”
“Da-da-da.”
Scooping her up into my arms, Sally gets on running her a bath, and I let her take over and I finish fixing up the kitchen cupboards. I listen to them splashing and laughing, and for once, I’m not scared of it. I lean in the doorway when she puts our daughter to bed and cross my arms over my chest.
I listen to her read to her, and she barely makes it to the fifth page before Kyla’s asleep.
Sally presses a soft kiss to her forehead and slides the book back onto the bookshelf I put up the last time I was here. She crosses the room, leaving the nightlight on, and slides her arm around me.
“It all starts now.”
“What does?”
“Being parents with a kid on the go. Now she’s taken a few steps, she’ll be running around in no time.”
That doesn’t fill me with confidence that we’ll be able to control her every move for the rest of her life. The shift in parenting is constantly changing depending on her age, and it’s a fight to keep up with it all.
“Where do you think life is going to take her?”
I can’t help but smile. “She’s going to be top of her class all through school. She’s going to have her choice of college. She’s going to have every opportunity to do and have what she wants. She’s going to be happy.”
And while achieving the best in life, she will have a safe and happy home to grow in. I dare any fucker to try and get in her way and ruin the heaven I do my best to create.
“I really hope so.”
There’s no hope about it. It’s what’s going to happen. I’ll make sure of it. Pulling Sally into the hall, I close Kyla’s door and lead my woman to our bedroom.
“I have to leave in the morning,” I tell her.
She smiles, but it’s not quite as joyous as earlier. “Then we better have an early night.”
I like to think my life truly started when I joined the Lost Souls Motorcycle Club, but it was really when Sally and I grew closer and then again when Kyla was born.
“You’ve stayed longer than usual, but I’m still not ready for you to go,” Sally admits as she sits at her dresser to brush her hair out.
“You know I’ll be back.”
