“Yeah, she’s staying,” he answered, putting his arm around Cassie’s shoulder.
The woman hadn’t said a word to that, so he wondered if she was aware that the big man was making the decision for her.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Cassie.” He offered her his hand and she shook it. “Marc Bryson. That’s my wife, Leah, who you’ve met. My parents, Ron and Mary Ann. Hannah, my niece, and you’ve met Greg, Hannah’s uncle. Welcome to Manning Grove. Great town. Great people.” He lifted his gaze to Judge. “We’d like to keep it that way.”
Judge’s jaw shifted but he gave Marc a sharp nod. “Same here.” Then he picked Daisy up, wrapped a large hand around the back of Cassie’s neck and took them back to where he had set up their chairs a few yards down the block.
Marc glanced at his wife.
She murmured, “Interesting.”
“Having women and children might keep the club on the straight and narrow,” Marc hoped.
“Didn’t last time,” Ron said. “Judge was one of those kids. Trip, Cage, Rook and Sig, too. I’m going to tell your brother to keep a close watch on that MC. Let’s hope history doesn’t repeat itself. Never thought I’d see the day when our town would be dealing with not only an MC but that crazy clan on the mountain. Once the Fury disintegrated, we thought the worst thing the force would have to deal with was moonshiners and meth makers.”
“Yeah, those were the good ol’ days, right, Pop?”
Ron shook his head. “Max has got his work cut out for him.”
“Let’s just hope Dutch was being honest when he told you that they weren’t going to bring trouble into town.”
“We’ll see,” his old man said. Oliver climbed into Ron’s lap, while Jax was already settled on Mary Ann’s.
“Going to go walk, see if I can spot the beginning of the parade. They should start moving through any time now.”
“Carly, Amanda and Teddy aren’t here yet,” Mary Ann exclaimed. “They better hurry or they might miss Max.”
Marc scanned the crowd. “Carly’s coming. She just stopped with Judge. Looks like she’s showing him the baby.”
“Well, Teddy needs to open the salon so she can take Levi in where it’s warm. I don’t want him outside in this weather.”
“It’ll toughen him up, woman,” Ron told his wife.
“A five-week-old baby does not need to be toughened up,” Mary Ann scoffed.
“Bah!”
“No pie for you later,” Marc’s mother said.
“I want pie, I’m eating pie,” his father answered.
Marc clapped his hands together. “Okay, then. I’m heading down the street. You all have fun.” He leaned over to give Leah a kiss and when he did, he whispered, “Things go sideways, text me. Don’t jump into anything.”
“What’s going sideways? Your parents fighting over pie?” Leah had air-quoted the last.
Marc pressed a kiss to her lips. When he straightened, he said, “Just text me if you need me.”
“How about if I just tell you I need you?” she whispered with a smile. “If I’m asleep when you get home, wake me.”
That sounded promising.
“Don’t eat too much sugar before bedtime,” his father butted in. “Might not get any sleep. And we got a big day tomorrow.”
Leah’s lips twisted.
“Yeah, it’s Chriss-mas!” Greg shouted. “Santa’s comin’!”
“Yeah, Santa’s coming!” Jax yelled.
“Down the chimney, right, Grandpa?” Austin asked.
“Only if you’ve been good this year,” Ron said.
“I’ll check back later. Be good for your grandparents, boys.”
With a last look at his family, Marc shook his head and headed back in the direction he came. The opposite direction from a whirlwind named Teddy, who was heading their way.
Chapter Six
Matt & Carly
Carly carefully steered the stroller through the crowd, trying to avoid everyone’s toes and shins. This was the first time she’d actually used the hand-me down from Amanda and Max.
She felt like a Nervous Nellie taking her baby out in public for the first time. She wished Matt could be there with her, but the reality was he needed to work today to have tomorrow off.
And tomorrow would be a special day none of them should miss.
She hoped she hadn’t forgotten to pack everything she needed in the diaper bag and also hoped Levi was warm enough. But as long as Teddy opened the salon, they’d be out of the late December weather soon enough.
A tall man with an extremely long beard caught her attention first, then she recognized the vest he wore. He was standing next to a curvy blonde and a just-as-blonde little girl.
She had seen him and his cousin around town so she knew who he was, she just didn’t realize he had joined the local MC that Sig and Autumn, Levi’s birth mother, were a part of.
Her first instinct was to keep moving past them, but her curiosity had her pause. “Hi.”
The big man wearing a beanie turned his head and ran his gaze over her, then it landed on Levi in the stroller.
“You’re Judge, right? You own Justice Bail Bonds?”
“Yeah,” Judge grunted and turned to face her.
“I... uh... I’m Carly Bryson.” She waved her hand toward the stroller. “This is Levi.”
Judge’s nostrils flared and his eyes dropped again to the baby.
“Hi! I’m Daisy!” the little girl called out from her chair with a sloppy wave as she kicked her little legs back and forth.
“Hi, Daisy.”
What she assumed was the little girl’s mother introduced herself. “I’m Cassie.”
“Hi.” She jutted out her hand to the seated woman. “I’m Dr. Carly Bryson. A local OB/GYN. I’m Autumn’s doctor. Stella’s, too.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Carly laughed. “I wasn’t trying to get you into my stirrups. I just wanted to point out how I know the ladies of your club.”
Cassie jerked her chin toward Judge, who now squatted in front of the stroller, staring at the baby. “His club.”
“Oh, well. Right. His club. Will Autumn be coming today? I haven’t seen her in a while.”
“No,” came the deep grunt.
“Oh, well...”
Judge reached out and ran a finger down Levi’s pudgy cheek. “He got red hair?”
“No.”
“Good.” Judge nodded, his hand pressed to Levi’s chest. It was big enough to cover the whole thing. “He good?”
“Yes, he’s very good. Perfect.”
Judge nodded again.
“Is Autumn doing okay? I haven’t talked to her in a couple weeks. Sig did the last couple drop-offs of her breast milk. I just wanted to make sure everything with her... between them... was okay.”
“She’s good.”
“Can you let her know she’s invited over to the Bryson farm tomorrow for Christmas? That’s if she wants to spend some time with Levi.”