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He laughed, caught and knowing it. “I’m good, Ivy, but I’m old.”

“Good wine is old too, and you don’t see anybody complaining about it,” she said, reaching back for my hand without looking away from my father. Her fingers laced through mine like we’d been doing it for years instead of weeks. “If you’re not good, you tell me. Okay?”

I watched her as she stood there with her arms crossed, refusing to back down because she cared. She gave him the love she’d always wanted to give Rex, and she did it in a way she knew he could accept. Not so long ago, she flinched when a door shut too hard. Now she squared up to the most dangerous man in three counties and told him he didn’t get a vote on whether she worried about him.

I’d never been prouder of anything in my life, and I’d just been handed a whole MC.

He hid his smile behind the fresh bottle. “You’re going to be a damn good old lady. The new girls will need you.”

She frowned. “New girls?”

He just laughed. “Yeah. They’ll all fall. Eventually.”

I wanted to laugh and call bullshit on Hatchet’s words, but I couldn’t. They all gave me shit for falling for my wife, so sure it couldn’t—wouldn’t—happen to them. I’d been so sure myself, especially after losing Sarah, but all it took was a spirited redhead who turned out to be exactly everything I needed.

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Ivy sighed.

I rolled my eyes and groaned, pulling her against my chest. She leaned against me, giving me her weight in an act of trust that still took my breath away. She fit perfectly, like the spot at my side had been carved out just for her. I dropped a kiss on top of her head, and she let out a soft hum, her arm sliding around my back, the empty beer bottle dangled from her other hand.

I looked out over the compound from this vantage point, at all the things I helped build over the years. The bikes and the businesses, the brotherhood and the mountains that stood tall over all of it, as much a part of this MC as I was. The patch and the responsibility that came with it sat heavy on my chest, but it was a challenge I accepted willingly.

This right here? It was pure fucking perfection. My woman, my whole damn heart, was here at my side. My dad was still alive and kicking, guiding me into the next chapter of my life as a President and a man in love. A leader of my men.

This wasn’t where I thought I’d end up years ago when I lost Sarah, but now I couldn’t picture my life any other way.

Epilogue

Ivy

Six Months Later

Living life as Ivy Coleman was amazing. It was better than anything I knew to imagine back when I was at my most hopeless living with Rex. Not only was I hopelessly in love with the man I married as part of some deal struck without my input, but I was getting acquainted with this new and improved version of myself.

I’d been working on something for the past three months, and I was finally done and ready to show it to the world. Well, to the Iron Vows MC, anyway. That was its own kind of world, and right now it was the only one whose opinion could make my hands sweat.

“Why are you so nervous?” Dani wrapped an arm around me and we stood there together, staring at the photos on the wall.

I laughed. “Why?” I scoffed and shook my head. “Because this is a big fucking deal. They trusted me to do this because Knox is my husband, but I want to do a good job, and I want them to love it because it’s awesome, not because I’m the prez’s old lady.”

She giggled. “But you are the prez’s old lady.”

“Not helping.” I stared up at the photos that now decorated the bar. With the help of half a dozen prospects, I’d spent all night getting the framed pieces level and spaced exactly where I wanted them. The patched members lined the top of the wall, every one of them looked handsome and badass in black and white, like they’d been carved out of something harder than the rest of us. The rest of the walls were candid shots, the guys caught being themselves: on their bikes, bent over a hand of cards, cigarettes between their fingers, a beer hanging loose from somebody’s grip. Laughing. It was the very essence of who these guys were and who I’d gotten to know over the past six months. It was good and I was proud of the end result, but I was biased. “What do you think? Be honest.”

“I think this is incredible, and I really hope some of these make it into your show next month.”

I smiled. “My show.” It was still hard to believe those two words belonged in the same sentence as me. Not so long ago doing anything more than printing and framing photos was all I ever expected to do and now my photos were going to appear at an art gallery. I might not sell anything, but I had my own show.

“What about your show?” Knox’s deep voice sent a shiver down my body, the same way it had since the day I met him.

I spun with a big smile. “The show you submitted me for, remember?”

He grinned, not an ounce of apology in it. “You deserved it, and I knew you’d chicken out if I gave you too much time to think about it.”

He was probably right. I would’ve talked myself out of it a dozen times and missed out on a great opportunity. “You’re lucky I love you.”

His gaze turned serious. “I tell myself that every fuckin’ day.” He kissed me softly and then pulled back, taking in the images on the wall.

I watched him take in the photos, smiling as he took in each one for the very first time. “Well?”