“I could live with that,” Marie said slowly. We all swiveled toward Lacey. She nodded slowly.
“I’m willing to accept it.”
They glared at each other a moment longer. Lacey held out the vest slowly and Marie snatched it back. Dancer grabbed the vest and took off downstairs, presumably in search of the copier.
“I’m gonna go smoke and do some of my peace affirmations,” Lacey said slowly, spearing us with her eyes, one by one. “When I come back, the patch will be on the dress in such a way that it’s not visible from the front, for the pictures. If I see it from the front, we’ll have a problem and no peace affirmation on Earth will be enough to save your asses. We have an understanding?”
She swept out of the room and Marie growled.
“I need another beer.”
I handed her one quickly, then grabbed one for myself. Holy shit, and I’d thought her mom was crazy last night …
Marie pounded her drink as Dancer reappeared, panting. She held a color copy of the patch up triumphantly.
“Where do you want it?” she asked Marie. “We’ll have to tape it on the dress right before you head down the aisle.”
“I want it on my butt,” Marie said, just as I’d taken a drink. “So my mother has to look at it the whole damned ceremony.”
I couldn’t help myself. I started giggling, which I tried to cover with a cough, forgetting I had a mouth full of beer. I ended up snorting it out my nose, and then everyone lost it. Dancer was actually crying when she finally stopped, and we all took a moment to poke at our eyes with tissues, trying to fix our makeup. Then she turned to Marie.
“I like the idea of it back there,” she said, biting back another laugh. “I know it’ll piss off your mom, and that’s great. But it’ll also send a nice message to Horse …”
Marie’s eyes widened.
“Oh, you’re right,” she whispered. “Let’s do it.”
And that’s how Marie ended up getting married to Horse with a property patch on her ass.
We all walked Marie downstairs, and then Dancer and Em bustled her off to wherever she planned to hide until things got started. I collected Noah and we wandered around back to the meadow, which had been transformed since the night before.
There were twice as many tents now, probably more than a hundred. They’d set up a little wooden pulpit at the front, and chairs had been laid out in neat rows on either side of the aisle, just like any outdoor wedding.
But this wasn’t just any wedding. It was a Reaper wedding, and apparently they liked to add their own twist to the ceremony. All the guys had parked their bikes in two neat, diagonal rows on either side of the center, forming a path of shining chrome for Marie to walk through.
I had to admit, it looked cool.
As Ruger’s … whatever … I had a place reserved for me up front, right next to Maggs, Cookie, and Darcy. We sat for about ten minutes, Noah squirming, while we waited for things to get started. Then the sound system crackled to life and the minister asked everyone to find their seats.
Horse and Ruger stepped out from the trees, coming around front to stand and wait. Both wore black jeans and bright white button-up shirts. They also wore their colors. The minister wore a vest, too, although he wasn’t a Reaper.
“Chaplain from Spokane,” Maggs whispered to me. “He’s done stuff for the club before. Good guy.”
I nodded, then we all turned to watch as Pachelbel’s Canon started wafting through the meadow. The first to come down the aisle was a very little girl I didn’t recognize, carrying a basket of flower petals that she scattered as she walked. Dancer’s two boys followed as ring bearers. Marie’s mom and stepdad were next, and then I heard the roar of a motorcycle across the meadow.
I craned my neck to see Picnic riding slowly toward the group with Marie on the back of his bike. My eyes widened, delighted. Maggs giggled and leaned over.
“We didn’t tell her mom about that part …”
I glanced quickly to the front to see Lacey’s eyes narrowed and suspicious. John wrapped an arm around her shoulders and whispered something in her ear. She glared at him, then shrugged and rolled her eyes. Apparently she knew when she’d been beaten.
Picnic came to a stop at the end of the aisle, where Em and Dancer—as bridesmaids—waited to help Marie off the bike and fix her dress. Then the two women walked down the aisle before her, side by side. We all rose as Picnic held out his arm to Marie, then slowly escorted her toward Horse.
That’s when the people in the back started laughing.
Everyone around us looked confused, and I glanced up to find Horse frowning. He leaned over toward Ruger, murmuring something to him. The waves of laughter kept growing as Marie moved forward, and then I was able to see the patch—“Property of Horse”—proudly displayed on her rear end, as promised.
Picnic stopped at the end, stepping back as Horse came to collect Marie. She whispered something to him, and he looked around behind her to see the patch. His face split in a huge grin and I glanced over to see Lacey biting her lip, trying not to laugh. She winked at Marie, silently acknowledging that her daughter had won, and the ceremony started.
I don’t remember all the details. It went fast. I kept looking up to find Ruger watching me, his face serious. I did note two very interesting facts, though. The first was that Horse’s full name was Marcus Antonius Caesar McDonnell, God help him.
The second was that Marie didn’t promise to obey.
Good girl.
Then the minister pronounced them husband and wife, and Horse swept Marie up into a kiss that I was pretty sure could get a woman pregnant. Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” burst through the speakers and Horse all but carried her back down the aisle as everyone cheered—and bikers cheer loud.
Ruger walked Dancer back down the aisle, and Em walked by herself.
“They left the second spot for Bolt,” Maggs said to me, her eyes misty. “They always leave a spot for Bolt. They’re waiting for him to come home.”
I glanced over at Cookie, whose face had gone pale.
“Are you all right?” I asked. She gave me a tight smile.
“Excuse me, I need to go check on Silvie,” she said. I must’ve looked blank, because she explained. “The flower girl. She’s my daughter.”
“Oh, she’s beautiful,” I said, but Cookie was already up and moving.
I’d noticed a few things since I started getting to know the Reapers.
They were fiercely loyal to each other. They seemed to talk in code sometimes, and they had their own rules and ways of doing things. They didn’t like cops and they knew how to get rid of bodies. The Reapers didn’t really shine, though, until you’d seen them party.
Give them a marriage to celebrate and a pyramid of kegs?
The place blew up.
Marie’s mom definitely knew how to throw a reception, too. They’d gone with casual, and I entered the courtyard to find it transformed into something that wasn’t quite elegant, but was definitely fun. There were lights everywhere, music blasting, and enough food for two armies.
Best of all? There was child care.
Yup, she’d hired the entire staff of a local day care center to come in and set up a children’s area, complete with games, prizes, face painting, and a genuine fucking pony to ride on. The kids even had their own little buffet where they could put together hot dogs and hamburgers.
Noah lost interest in me immediately.
“Wow, this is amazing,” I said to Maggs as he took off running. “I didn’t realize Marie came from money.”
“Marie comes from a trailer,” Maggs replied, laughing. “But her stepdaddy’s trying to make up for lost time, and he’s loaded. What Lacey wants, Lacey gets. Today she wants a pony.”
“No shit,” I said.
Then Ruger’s arms came around me and he leaned down into me, scenting my hair.
“Hey,” he whispered in my ear. I melted. Maggs rolled her eyes as I turned in his arms.
“Hey,” I whispered back. Then I put my hands on his shoulders and lifted up on my toes to kiss him. We’d been doing this a lot the past week. Soft, sweet, quick kisses that let me show my feelings without things getting too intense.