Page 105 of Rome
Epilogue
One year later…
Rome/Caleb
“Congratulations, brother. You can’t imagine how good it’s gonna feel when your kid is placed in your arms. I’m so fuckin’ happy for you two.” I clasped Jagger around his neck and pulled him close until our foreheads were touching. He reached out and grabbed the back of my neck as well, and we both just took in the moment before releasing each other and taking a step back. I turned to a beaming Molly, who had just been hugged by Abby as they shared an excited squeal and pulled her into a tight hug.
“Easy, man, you’re gonna squish my kid,” Jagger complained, trying to pull me away from his laughing wife. King elbowed me out of the way so he could sweep Molly into his arms, planting a kiss on her cheek and grinning ear-to-ear.
“Thank you, sweetheart. I know you’ve made my boy the happiest man in the world, and I can’t wait to have another grandbaby to spoil.”
Molly teared up, and Jagger promptly lost his shit, trying to console her. I just shook my head. He was in for a big shock once he realized that pregnancy hormones were going to cause her to cry over every little fucking thing.
Sinner pulled Molly away from Jagger next, hugging her and whispering something in her ear that made her giggle, then start crying again. Luckily, Jagger had been distracted by my sweet wife. He had her wrapped in a huge hug, gently swaying back and forth with her as she hugged his neck. They talked softly, then Jag smiled at her and kissed her forehead before releasing her.
I tugged her back to my side, and she wrapped her arm around my waist and rested her head on my chest.
“They’re going to make great parents,” she said, and I barely heard her over the chaos surrounding us in Sinner’s backyard. We had all just arrived for a family cookout when Jag and Molly made their big announcement. The baby was due in mid-January.
I laughed as Lucky scooped a giggling Molly into his arms and pretended to run away with her. My twin didn’t find it nearly as funny and glared at Lucky until the dipshit carefully lowered Molly to the ground and backed away with his hands in the air. While Jag was focused on trying not to murder our cousin, Trick took advantage of his distraction and scooped Molly up for himself. She clung to his neck as she laughed, which caught Jagger’s attention. Lucky slunk off to the other side of the yard as soon as Jag turned around to yell at Trick.
“Get your mangy fuckin’ paws off my wife before I rip your arms off and beat you with them.”
Molly laughed at her husband’s tirade as Trick set her down and oh-so-helpfully tried to fix her shirt, which had ridden up slightly with all the manhandling she’d endured.
“Did you think I was fuckin’ around, Trick?” Jag yelled as he shoved our best friend out of the way and smoothed Molly’s shirt himself. His hand lingered on her still-flat belly, and she raised up on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. That seemed to calm him down a little and gave Trick the opportunity to dash across the yard to join Lucky.
When Viking approached Molly next, Jagger watched him like a hawk as the old man bent to give her a peck on the cheek. I laughed again as Viking then turned and flipped Jag off with both hands before stomping off to supervise the grill with Sinner.
Cowboy and Michelle were the next in line to offer their congratulations. I heard Michelle assuring Molly that they would find a great substitute teacher to cover her class for the entire Spring semester once school started up again in August.
I heard Ethan laughing and the sound of Everly’s sweet giggles, and looked around the yard until I spotted them by the playground set that Sinner had installed a year and a half ago. Wrangler, my cousin formerly known as Lincoln, was pushing them both on the swings. He gave Ethan a mighty shove, causing him to swing high in the air, while Ev received a much gentler push in her baby swing, which he had carefully buckled her into.
He had been patched in as Wrangler, after King made the comment that he was great at wrangling kids, Ol’ Ladies, and even the club girls. Abby and I had elected to skip his Patch Party, spending a quiet evening with the kids instead. Abby wasn’t quite triggered that night, but it was still very definitely a sore spot for her. She hadn’t been in the mood for anything more than me holding her that night, which I gladly did, while telling her how much I loved her and wanted only her.
The days leading up to Halloween were rough, too, for both of us. Abby was so quiet that she barely said a word, and I was so fucking angry with myself that I had to get Trick and Jagger to go extra rounds with me at the gym.
We scheduled two extra sessions with Kim that week, one joint session and a one-on-one session for me to go over my sobriety plan again.
We’d found that the simplest things could be triggers. A movie featuring strippers, another with a side plot involving a man cheating on his wife. Our first visit to the clubhouse for a party.
We got through them all with love, patience, communication, and tears. We used those fucking “I feel” statements to the point that I caught myself saying it in Church one day. I got a few strange looks, but nobody said anything.
We’d finally overcome our mutual aversion to blow jobs. Kim’s immersion therapy had done the trick. We’d progressed from Abby’s head laying my lap, to a tentative lick, to her sucking on me for a few minutes, to her laying on her back as I leaned over her and fed her my dick.
One night, she’d just gone for it, laying between my spread legs as she’d licked, sucked and nibbled on me until I grabbed hold of her hair and fucked her mouth. I’d come with a shout that had left me a little hoarse, and Abby had burst into tears.
I had freaked the fuck out, ready to scoop her up and run into the bathroom so we could talk without breaking our rule about not discussingherin our bed, when Abby stopped me and simply said,
“Don’t worry, Caleb. They’re happy tears.”
I was brought out of my musings when I heard King ask where the hell his wife had disappeared to.
“I think she’s in the kitchen, Prez,” Trick informed him.
King flashed him a shit-eating grin as he stalked toward the house, and I just shook my head as he said something about needing to get a little sugar.
As Abby and I settled into bed later that night, I reached for her and said, “I feel the need to kiss every inch of your body, baby girl.”
