Page 10 of Emergence: Prequel
“Good girl. I’ll have to thank Kyle for making sure you could take care of yourself. Proud of you.” He pressed a kiss to her head before turning on his heel and storming out the door to make his phone calls.
“Oh, those boys don’t know what they’ve unleashed,” Maura muttered. “Uncle Roman’s on the warpath.”
“I don’t understand,” Rosie muttered softly, turning towards the two girls. “I thought he’d be mad that I was causing problems for the club. My dad would have blamed me.”
“Oh, baby,” I whispered, but she wasn’t wrong; he would have, and it would have been up to me to make sure she was safe in any way that I could.
“Well, it’s a good thing you have Uncle Roman now,” Maura stated matter-of-factly, “and if you have him, then you have my dad and Opal’s dad too.”
“But I’m nothing to him. I’m just the daughter of the woman he’s seeing.”
Tilting my head back, I cursed myself for staying with Grudge so long. He’d really done a number on my baby girl’s self-esteem.Unbeknownst to her, Roman had come back in and heard her words.
“Rosie,” Roman spoke softly, “turn around, sweet girl.”
Rosie stiffened in my arms but turned as he asked and waited for what I’m sure she thought was going to be a telling off, but I knew Roman better than that. I guess, with everything being so new, we’d forgotten to clue Rosie in on how he felt about her.
Only when she was turned around and her attention was focused on him did he continue, “I’m sorry if I haven’t made it clear how I feel about you and your mom. I don’t know if you know our history, but I’ve loved your mom for over twenty years. I can’t tell you how it makes me feel to finally call her mine.
“Now, you are your mom’s. A package deal; I’ve always known that. Which means that you’re mine now. Not just because of your mom but because of who you are as a person. In the time I’ve been with your mom, I’ve found you to be funny, sweet, and an all-round genuinely amazing girl who only wants the best for those around her. Never rocking the boat and taking what she needs for herself.
“Sweet girl, I like you because you are your mom’s and how could I not like someone that she had a hand in making? But, I came to love you for who you are.
“Now, I’m not looking to take your dad’s place, but I’m here if you ever need anything, and I’ll look out for you always because you’re mine.
“I don’t want you to worry about what happened today. I’m going to fix it. I want you and your mom at my house for the next few weeks. Nobody’s going to get to you behind the club fence. I’ve got a prospect coming, and he’s going to follow you and your mom to your house to pack enough for a month. Hell, pack it alland just move in; that would suit me better, then I’d never have to worry about you being alone.”
Rosie laughed softly before stumbling forward to wrap her arms around Roman. “I wish you were my dad,” she said on a choked sob.
“Oh, baby girl, me too, but I’m happy to act as your dad now if you want me to,” Roman assured her. The tears were streaming down my face as I watched and listened to them. He didn’t know how much I wished she was his too.
“Come here, baby,” Roman held out his arm towards me and I fell into him. “Come here, girls,” he ordered Opal and Maura. Before I knew it, we were surrounded and held in the arms of the one man we all knew would protect us come hell or high water.
“You ladies have made me so proud today.”
The sound of more than one bike could be heard coming down the road. With one last squeeze, Roman let us go and went to organise his brothers and let them know the bare basics. He’d call for Church to discuss the rest.
Tinman and Cash scooped up their girls and took them home, but not before I’d hugged and thanked them.
It didn’t take long for us to get to my house, where Rosie and I packed most of our belongings and handed them to the prospect who packed my car and followed us to Roman’s house.
I don’t think I breathed easy until we were behind the clubhouse fence. Looking across the car to Rosie, I knew we’d have to have a long talk about today. I hated that this happened to her, but I was also proud of her for fighting back, “You doing okay, sweet girl?”
Rolling her head against the seat of the car, she turned to look at me with big, sad eyes. “Not really, Momma, but I will be.” Sheturned to look back out the window and was quiet until I parked our car and switched it off. Not looking at me, she asked, “Do you think he’d mind if I called him Dad? He’s done more for me in a month than my real dad did my whole life.”
Resting my hand on her leg, I didn’t know how to answer because I was so mad at Grudge for not just the hell he’d put me through but also because of how he’d treated our daughter.
Clearing my throat once I was sure I could speak around the lump in my throat, I said, “Why don’t you ask him, baby girl? I think you’ll be surprised at what he says. Now, how about we get this car unpacked and see what snacks there are? The guys are going to be at Church. What do you say we see if Opal, Maura, and their moms want to come over for a movie and snacks?”
“Okay,” Rosie agreed, and I was glad to see a small spark back in her eyes.
It didn’t take long to unpack. I called Lizzie and Maggie once I was done. They were both fully aware of what had happened and were happy to come and keep us company.
I’d not even thought about how Roman would feel about me taking over his house like I had, inviting people in, even if they were Old Ladies of the club.
From his reaction when he walked in late that night to find teenage girls fast asleep on various pieces of furniture in his living room and three Old Ladies, I’d invited Jenny over as she’d been there when it had all gone down. Plus, me being a little tipsy from the amount of wine we’d consumed, I didn’t think he really minded, not with the way he kissed me, making me forget we had a houseful of people. That was until Lizzie had to poke at her big brother, teasing him about letting me up for air.
It had been good to laugh after a really shitty day, and it was even better to go to sleep wrapped in his arms.