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I fiddled with the skirts of my wedding dress, attempting to quell the nerves boiling in my stomach. The hum of activity in the clubhouse was muted in the sanctuary of the ladies room. But I couldn’t hide out here forever. My hair and makeup were done. Now it was time to get married. Again.

I paused as I looked in the mirror. Then my gaze fell to my stomach. I turned to the side, smoothing my hand down my middle. Trying to imagine what it would look like to be pregnant, especially at this age.

I’d been thinking about it more and more during the last two weeks, preparing for the wedding. Even though Connie was right—Mom had pushed her dreams on me—I still caught a little tug in my chest. That desire to have children. It was faded now, but every time I looked at Neil, that tug was there.

I shook my head. It didn’t matter. I was marrying Neil—and staying married this time. That’s all I cared about.

A knock echoed at the door.

“Hattie? Can I come in?” Connie called.

“It’s open.”

My sister breezed in, wearing a flowing lemon-yellow maxi dress. Emma was bundled in her arms, swaddled in pink and fast asleep.

“Just thought I’d pop in to check up on you. Do you need anything? God, you look stunning…”

I gave her a twirl, then lifted my skirts to reveal the biker boots underneath.

“Oh, Neil really is turning out to be a bad influence on you!” she said with delight. “I bet those boots are a thousand times more comfortable than heels though.”

“It’s easier to chase my nephew around, I’ll say that much.”

A pause settled between us. Connie reached out and clasped my hand.

“You’re ready for this, aren’t you?”

I nodded. Welch had completely disappeared, which put Neil on edge. He barely slept, and I often caught him having hushed conversations on the phone in the middle of the night with one of his club members.

I knew what I was getting into. And I wasn’t shying away.

Connie hooked her arm in mine as we left the ladies room and headed for the main room of the clubhouse. Streamers and lights had been put up. A buffet of food covered the bar. Gifts were mounded on a table in the corner.

It wasn’t a picturesque wedding. But I had already spent too much of my life chasing a perfect life that never existed. The family I wanted had been here all along, waiting for me.

Spike wolf whistled. Big G came forward and greeted me with a kiss on the cheek.

“He’s a very lucky bastard.”

Neil was near the door, in conversation with Blackbeard and Hot Shot. Then he turned and his gaze swept over me from head to toe. I probably should have felt ridiculous, wearing thiswedding dress with the fluffy, gauzy skirts, while Neil and the rest of his club wore their customary cuts and jeans.

That was the perfect example of our worlds colliding and coming together though. I was the small town girl, the school teacher, the civilian. Neil was the biker and the leader of his club.

Despite the differences in our lives, our backgrounds, we were joined by an unbreakable bond of love for each other that remained unshaken.

The door burst open and Credence entered, dragging a thrashing Welch along with him. Neil squared his shoulders, pushing me behind him.

“Guess who was lurking around the dumpsters out back.” Credence tossed a pistol with a silencer onto the bar. “And he came prepared to do some damage.”

I shifted closer to Neil, threading our fingers together.

“Fucking bitch deserves what she gets for trying to get me locked up,” Welch snapped. He spat at my feet, narrowly missing my dress by an inch.

Neil lashed out, grabbing Welch by his shirt and shoving him against the bar.

“That is mywifeand you will speak to her with respect.”

“Neil,” I said, my voice ringing sharp and clear through the room.