His tiny granddaughter stirred just a little, hardly at all, but he cooed and rocked her, instinctively falling into a rhythm that he hadn’t known he’d remembered from thirty years previously. He was excited about this little life in his arms. He’d missed so much of his own children’s childhoods; he planned on being around for every second of this little lady’s.
Moira had been knitting and crocheting like a woman possessed. This little princess already had more booties, blankets and bonnets than you could shake a stick at. He could see, just looking at his wife, that even though her granddaughter wasn’t yet a full day old, that she was just chomping at the bit to have her stay over. Moira was just so happy about being a grandma that she’d have forgiven Paul anything. Samuel didn’t doubt that she might well have served him up on a silver platter to Lucifer himself if she’d have thought it would have gotten her grandbabies.
He hadn’t introduced the subject of marriage, or even so much as hinted; but he’d have been lying if he’d said he wasn’t happy that Ashleigh and Paul had decided to tie the knot before this little beauty had arrived. Ashleigh had been adamant about the ceremony being small and private, just the club, with none of the airs and graces of her first wedding. It had been held in the clubhouse, the ceremony in the Chapel and the party in the main room, with most of the guests wearing denim and leather and only the women dressed all fancy. Ashleigh had been a vision in simple shimmery dress that was a few shades from white. She would never know of the epic arguments that had taken place in his house between Moira and Dolly as Moira had tried to rein in her friend’s over-exuberant good intentions for the sake of her daughter.
Samuel reluctantly handed the little ball of blankets and baby back to her daddy, thoroughly enjoying the look of abject fear on Paul’s face. Some things just needed to be forgiven. He wasn’t entirely sure he would ever forget, but he would move on. Seeing the happiness, even tinged with exhaustion, feeling the aura of serene contentedness that Ashleigh projected, helped with that a lot.
The future wasn’t going to be without its strains. He was working with Eduardo to fill the gap left by the extermination of the Rabid Dogs. That was going to be a lot easier since the complete annihilation of the Satan’s Tails, but Samuel knew it wouldn’t be a walk in the park. What they were setting up was beginning to look a lot like a Texas Chapter of the Priests. Eduardo had been adamant that he didn’t want an obvious branch of his own family business out in the open in that way.
The Priests had gone from small time outlaws to now being a major player in the movement of illegal substances and people. The manner in which they’d dealt with their enemies, and particularly that they had avoided jail time in doing so, had given them a fearsome reputation.
It had been a very long time since Samuel had found himself in the prison cell of Eduardo Dias, since Eduardo had suggested they do business together. The world had changed a lot in that time. Technology was taking over in a way that Samuel struggled to understand, no matter how hard he tried to keep up. Law enforcement had changed; science was forever providing new hurdles. However, the capacity for human greed had not changed, or people’s aptitude for self-destruction. To that end the essential base of his and Eduardo’s business remained profitable, and in its own way made life easier. They had managed to set up the debacle at the motel so that the Priests were never considered as suspects. Crash and his skills with the computer had had a lot to do with that.
Eduardo had found the orphaned little girl that Paul had been concerned about. She was eight, and despite more emotional trauma than most adults ever experienced, she was a shy, precious little thing. Although Eduardo had a large family and was happy to absorb the little girl into it, Samuel had had another idea about her future; but he needed to speak to Terry about that some before he took it further.
All this thinking about family made him miss his boy, although the ache of grief had eased a little, it wasn’t ever going to go away. Dean would have been an amazing uncle. Samuel felt aged by the loss, not just for himself but for his family and club as a whole. But now wasn’t a time to dwell on what was gone and what would never be. The club was strong, his family was strong. Now was a time to look forward to the future. He still had work to do.