I'd made her a promise to stay, and if I had to fight to stay, I would.

Or I would have tried if the nurse hadn't started shoving me out the door before I even realized that she'd done it.

When I tried the door, it was locked, and all I could do was sit there and stare through the gla.s.s as the team of nurses and doctors worked frantically at my wife and newborns side, trying to preserve their lives.

Blood was pooling at their feet, spreading quickly on the bright white floor.

My child, in the corner, had another team surrounding it, and I realized then that I never even heard whether it was a boy or a girl.

I hadn't realized I'd been screaming until somebody's arms wrapped around me from behind.

Those arms that used to mean the world to me twenty-five years ago meant nothing right now. The ache in my heart was multiplying, and I realized Baylee was going to leave me.

"You promised." I whispered brokenly.

The last thought I'd had before my father dragged me away, in response to what she'd said right before I'd left the room.

I'll love you for the rest of my life, she'd said.

No, Baylee, I thought. You may love me for the rest of your life, but I'll love you for the rest of mine; you're it for me. Don't you leave me like this, you promised.

Epilogue.

There is a fine line between wearing makeup and looking like Crayola g.a.n.g.b.a.n.ged your face.

-Life Lesson Baylee I walked into the house cautiously.

Slowly, stepping over the pile of cars in the entryway of Johnny's room, around the half-finished bottle of Blaise's in the hall, and over a pile of clothes belonging to Sebastian.

Based on the white stain over the front of the shirt, I a.s.sumed Blaise had thrown up.

Again.

This is what happened when Sebastian watched the kids, however.

But f.u.c.k it, even if I had to clean up afterwards, it's worth getting my nails done.

"She's going to kill you when she finds out you did this without a shirt on." Sterling said from the kitchen.

I froze and listened to what Sterling and my man were saying.

"Yeah, but I did it to show off the tattoo. It'll totally be worth it. Especially when she finds out where all the proceeds are going."

"Yeah, she'll like that." Sterling said dryly.

I rounded the corner, eager to find out what Sebastian would risk my wrath for, and came to a stop in my state of the art kitchen. Then, promptly, swallowed my tongue when I saw how much muscle Sterling had put on since I'd last seen him.

Sterling was a conundrum to me. He was a very sweet and docile person, and it took me around six months to figure out what the appeal of the MC life was to him.

Family.

He wanted a family.

And with us, he got that.

He'd yet to have a nickname bestowed on him, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he did something stupid in front of the boys, and he'd have one.

After patching in with the Dixie Wardens, Sterling had joined the military. The Navy, in particular.

He'd gone to boot camp a few weeks after Sebastian's accident, and then stayed for specialized training.

It'd been well over a year since I'd seen him, and the changes in him were staggering.

Then the fact that Sebastian was standing in the middle of our kitchen, stripped down to his boxer briefs, caught my attention, and my mind started to wander.

Until the smell hit me.

"What is that smell?" I asked worriedly.

Sebastian didn't waste any time pointing to a large pile of vomit in the middle of the kitchen floor.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure how that much puke could come out of one small child.

Surprised, I asked, "Blaise did that?"

Sebastian shook his head. "No, Johnny did. And then Sterling did. Apparently, they can't handle vomit, which is why they're going to be cleaning it up. Not me." He said looking pointedly at the offending pile.

Which translated to Blaise projectile puking as she always did, and then Johnny puked, followed quickly by Sterling.

"Jesus Christ, I'll just puke again, that's what I keep trying to tell you." Sterling growled.

"I'll get you a bowl." Sebastian offered.

"Where're the kids?" I asked, finally realizing they weren't in the room.

"On the trampoline." Sebastian answered.

Walking through the kitchen carefully, I stepped out on the back porch and had to laugh seeing Johnny stripped down to his tighty whities and Blaise in only a diaper on the trampoline with the sprinkler running.

Did I mention that Sebastian was the fun parent?

He did have the surrounding net zipped up tight, luckily.

The screen door creaked open behind me, and I looked over my shoulder at my husband and best friend.

"Could you at least clean up the puke?" I asked with a small smile on my face.

Sebastian's arms threaded around my midsection, pulling me in close to his body, before answering, "My clothes cleaned it up perfectly well."

I snorted, and leaned back against him. "How were the kids beside that?"

"Blaise was good. She took a nap on my chest before puking on it. Johnny played Legos with Sterling the majority of the time."

"Bet that was nice." I observed dryly.

"It's clean, a.s.shole!" Sterling yelled from the kitchen.

Sebastian buried his face in my neck and laughed. "He would've never spoken to me that way a year ago."

I rolled me eyes. "You were his sponsor, of course he wouldn't. You'd have kicked his a.s.s."

"He could've tried," Sterling said dryly from the doorway.

"On that note," I said, giving Sebastian a peck on the lips. "I'm going to go get the kids dressed. We have to leave here in a few minutes. Turn the water off for me, please."

We had the annual barbeque this weekend, and we planned to leave this afternoon in order to get there by seven.

We were having the barbeque at the Arkansas chapter's newly remodeled clubhouse this year, and I was really looking forward to it. Surprisingly, I'd made a ton of friends throughout the Dixie Wardens, men and women alike, and I enjoyed spending time with them.

"Mommy!" Johnny yelled when he saw me coming towards him.

Johnny had started calling me mom the day Blaise was born.

That day was still a bit hazy for me.

I'd remembered nothing of my delivery. Didn't remember seeing my husband, and didn't remember seeing my baby.

I could remember being wheeled into the operating room, and then nothing.

Sebastian wasn't a fountain of information, either.

He hated talking about it, in fact.

He said it was the worst day of his life, and would never speak of it again because the memories were debilitating and they hurt to think about them.

From what I'd pieced together from my family, blood and the club, it wasn't a good few hours.

When I started bleeding out, they'd gently tried to ease Sebastian from the room, but he'd freaked because he'd promised me he would stay with me no matter what.

They'd gotten forceful, and had to literally push him out of the room when he started resisting.

It was a full four hour wait as Sebastian watched through the gla.s.s doors while the medical team worked ruthlessly to save me and Blaise.

Our child was born not breathing.

Then his attention was split when they rushed our baby off to the NICU. From there, he was torn, not knowing where to go and who to keep the promise to.

In the end, he'd chosen our daughter, trusting the rest of our family with me.

After hours in surgery, the doctor had made the perilous decision to remove all of my reproductive organs.

After they'd done that, my bleeding had been contained with a c.o.c.ktail of drugs, and they'd sewn me up and sent me back to a postpartum room where I was watched closely for nearly forty-eight hours.

Blaise started breathing on her own as soon as they'd gotten her to the NICU.

She was a perfect six and a half pounds of pure anger. Sebastian had said that she reminded him of an out of control fire, which was why we'd named her Blaise.

She'd lived up to the name ever since.

Now, at ten months, she was h.e.l.l on wheels.

She and Johnny got into so much trouble together, and I loved every second of it.

"Hi, pumpkin. You ready to go?" I asked Johnny as I reached for him.

He came willingly, and I set him down on the gra.s.s beside me. "Go get dressed and potty so we can go."

Johnny went without complaint, which was a rarity for him now a days, but I guessed it had more to do with the fact that we were going on a road trip rather than actually wanting to obey me.

"Mamamama," Blaise babbled.

I turned and gathered up the wet and slippery baby into my arms and walked into the house.

I was glad to see that the kitchen was spotless, because I wasn't a fan of cleaning up puke. I had enough of that at my job; I didn't need more of it at home.

I worked still, but never offered to do overtime anymore. Sebastian was promoted from captain to Battalion Chief after his role in the arsonist case was uncovered.

Devon McRae was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his temple the day after he'd attacked Kettle and Sebastian.

Kettle had changed after that day.

He'd mentioned to me once how he'd felt that he'd failed that day, and had been trying to make up for it ever since.

He was all about the club and work, never taking any time for himself.

"I can't find my pants!" Johnny yelled from his bedroom.

I diverted from my path and made a pit stop in Johnny's room to find him pants before I went to Blaise's room to get her dressed.

The outfit I chose was a Harley Davidson onesie and a pair of tight skinny jeans that made her b.u.t.t look enormous.

Then I started hunting for the boots that Sebastian insisted on buying her in every single size available.