Jett

19 - Never ending line

Jett

How long have I got to stand here greeting people?

I know it’s some weird Italian tradition, but there are so many of them! Also, I have to stand here and greet each and every one of them with a damn smile on my face on the orders of Don Vidal!

When I arrived at the Church, Hammer dragged me into the room at the back – don’t ask me what the room is called, ain’t never been in a Catholic Church – and told me what was really going on; I felt my heart race a little too fast. It seemed that Vidal had had a change of heart after speaking with Maria last night. He realized giving her to what’s his name was the wrong decision.

Vidal then explained that if I loved Maria, I’d prove to him just what she meant to me. I’d tell him exactly why I wanted to marry her, the whole truth, not the abbreviated version I gave him at the clubhouse.

So, I told him everything, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I told him how Maria came to me and told me about the baby, what was expected of her, and how I didn’t even hesitate to tell Maria that I’d marry her.

I told him how when he forced us apart, I took it upon myself, after three weeks, to sneak over his wall and into her bedroom just to see her. Because I needed to see Maria and be near her so she would know I was thinking about her.

I didn’t tell Vidal about us fuckin.g every time I was there, but I guess he knew that too. It wasn’t hard to figure out. He even told me he knew weeks before that Maria had fallen for me; he just didn’t want to admit it. He told me how he watched Maria struggling every day, even to eat correctly. I knew she was putting on the fake smile for him, pretending she was fine, just as she had for everyone else.

Vidal told me that if I really did love Maria, if I swore that I would protect her and our baby with my life, then he’d allow me to go out there and marry her in place of that prick he’d chosen for her. My heart hammered because I could not quite believe my ears. Maria would be my wife, and I didn’t have to kill anyone to make it happen.

I can’t imagine that cunt was happy when he found out he wouldn’t be marrying Maria after all.

Draven said not to worry about Jovanni; no one would be seeing him again. I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but the look in Hammer’s eyes said the man had met a sticky end. For that to have happened, Jovanni must have done something to piss Draven off. I hoped it had nothing to do with Maria. If that bastard had done anything to the woman I loved... But then I shook my head because the prick was already dead. If he had upset Maria, Draven dealt with it.

Good.

Draven then told me I had better treat Maria like she was the most precious thing in the world to me, no one above her, first always before anything else. If she cries, I soothe her tears. She smiles, and I smile with her. None of that will be hard to do. She’s not a hard woman to love, and she is everything to me already.

Looking at Maria right now, so beautiful in her wedding dress, baby bump invisible to those who don’t know it’s there, that smile, that genuine smile of happiness on her face, she reminds me of what an angel might look like in person. Her slender, tanned arm reaches out to shake the hands of each guest arriving, even my MC family, and I am so proud to be her husband.

Me, someone’s husband. It’s almost laughable. I’m not one to never say never. I always knew I’d end up with an Old Lady one day.

But a wife?

Not in this lifetime.

Kids?

Sure, I wanted one in ten years’ time.

Would I change the fact that I’m going to be a dad now?

Nope. Nor would I change the fact the beauty next to me is my wife. Mine in every sense of the word. After everything Maria has been through since finding out about the baby, she’s finally happy, and I am the man making her happy. I will always try my very best to make her happy.

I’d thank Vidal for coming to his senses, but I don’t wanna give him a big head. I have no doubt he will want something from me soon enough. A man like Draven Vidal would not give his sister to a man like me without wanting something in return. I’ll be at his beck and call for the rest of my damn life.

But you know what?

As long as I have Maria and our baby, I’ll do what the Don wants. Within reason, of course, I’m not a complete idio.t.

I don’t know exactly how he explained this to his family or how he got around the Famiglia and all their rules yet again. But I’m guessing he told them all to show respect to Maria and me, not one of them has so much as scowled.

“He’s a big one, Maria!” God, another one. Another of Maria’s elderly relatives pinching my cheeks as though I’m a damn five-year-old! “Very handsome. He’ll give you beautiful babies, Maria.”

My wife chuckles beside me. “I’m sure he will, Zia Luisa.”

“I slipped a special gift on the table with a check for you.” The old woman winks at Maria, still feeling my bicep shamelessly.

“Thank you, Zia.”

The old woman kisses her niece and walks away, and finally, that’s the end of the Italian line.

I didn’t realize there were so damn many members of the MC here. Well, obviously, I did, but the fact the line again seems never ending is pissing me off. I need a drink, and I don’t mean the soft kind.

“Congratulations!”

“Thanks, Mom.” I hug her tightly to me, the woman who raised me. Not my mother by blood, but my mother in my heart, the only one I have ever and will ever need.

My birth mother wasn’t much of a mother to me when she was around. Lynette, the woman I call Mom, was there for me all my life. My mother, who is just thirteen years my senior. Not that I care a shi.t, she means everything to me.

“I am so proud of you, Jett. You have no idea.”

“Don’t cry,” I chuckle and wipe the tear from her cheek as she rolls her eyes.

Normal Mom thing to do at weddings?

Cry, I mean?

But at the reception?

Crazy!

“I love you, Mom,” I tell her with a kiss to her head.

“I love you more.” She tells me, and it makes me chuckle and hug her tighter.

“Welcome to the family, Maria.”

“Thank you, Mr. Jackson.”

“Shepard. Please.”

“Shepard,” Maria smiles at my father, who winks at her with a smile on his face.

My baby sister, Sophie, looks beautiful in her pink party dress, her brown hair tied up and clipped with pretty diamante pins, lifts her arms up to me. She always wants me to pick her up. Maybe she’s too old for me to be picking her up, but I don’t give a shi.t. I scoop her up and hug her for a moment before setting her back on her feet.

I get the usual from Max, a slight smile and a shake of his hand. The boy never says much, but I can see just how happy he is for me right now. His mind has been put at ease, and he knows Vidal isn’t going to kill me any time soon.

He gives me a one-armed hug and tells me, “Thanks for not doing anything stupid.”

I laugh and watch him walk away from me.

VJ, on the other hand?

He’s standing in front of me with a smirk on his face. God help us when he’s of age. He already thinks he's a man. VJ is tall for a boy his age and even has some muscle, which I haven’t seen on a kid his age since Tank and I were that age. VJ also flirts with every woman he comes in contact with, and Maria, it seems, is no different.

Disrespectful little bastard!

I stand back with my arms folded across my chest and watch him.

“If he doesn't take care of you,” He winks, and my eyebrows shoot up. Maria is standing smiling at him, her hand in his. “I will, and I do mean in the bedroom... Or out of it.” He winks again, and I could kill the little shi.t!

“VJ!” I bark at him.

“What? I’m just sayin’. You’re gettin’ old, bro. You’re,” He looks Maria up and down shamelessly. “Woman is damn fine.”

Maria laughs. My father, on the other hand, slaps VJ upside the head, apologizes, and takes my mother and younger siblings into the hall.

Little fucke.r.

Ghost, Avery, Willow, Hammer, Nova, and Tank congratulate us. Red and Tammy, Ace and Tessa, Roman, Hawk, BlackJack and Taylor, and many more congratulate us, and finally, the line comes to an end, and I grab my woman.

My woman.

Mine.

She giggles and wraps her arms around my neck. “I can't believe this happened.”

I hold Maria’s waist, pulling her closer. “Nor can I. Your brother came to see me this morning at the clubhouse. He ordered me to come here and watch you marry that jackass. I had no idea he meant he wanted me to turn up and be a man about things.”

Maria is looking at me like I’m a God to her. No woman has ever looked at me like that.

I lean in and take her mouth with mine. She melts into me, kissing me back like no one around us is witnessing anything. Only there is, and now they’re all whistling and awing at us.

Maria laughs against my mouth. I lead her to the dance floor.

My wife.