Duke (The Henchmen MC 5)

"You know, I've lived in this area my whole life," she started oddly, making my brows draw together. "And I damn sure know who The Henchmen MC are."

I felt my guts twist at that, sure, sure down to my bones that she was going to tell me that I didn't deserve her granddaughter.

"Maybe I don't approve of what goes on over there or the threat that comes along with belonging to such an organization," she paused, reaching out and taking my hand, squeezing as hard as her much weaker body would allow. "But there are a couple things I do know. One, my granddaughter has spent her whole life in a state of acceptance. She's always just went the status quo. She took a tame job. She chose men who were so unimpressive that I can't even remember a single one of their names. But since she moved back here, since she found you, I see that changing. I see her taking chances. I see her getting stronger, speaking her mind more, doing a job that fulfills her."

"I can't take the credit for that," I said, shaking my head. As much as I would have liked to, I knew that wasn't all me. "She has a strong support system with her friends and colleagues."

"True," she said, nodding, having met Lo when she and Cash helped us move her into the retirement facility. She had immediately taken to Lo and her abundance of "gumption" and flirted shamelessly with the equally flirtatious Cash. "But I think you can take credit for a lot more of it than you realize. But anyway, you cut me off," she said, small-eying me in the same way that Penny did and I got to see where she picked up the habit.

"Two, there is nothing unimpressive about you. I see that and she certainly sees that as well. She looks at you like you hung the moon in the sky just for her to look at every night. And you look at her like she is what makes the sun rise in the morning. And three, while you might be in a sordid type of lifestyle, I have every bit of faith that you will be able to keep Penny safe. Because safe is important. But you will keep her physically safe so she can keep exploring, taking chances, having her own little adventures, stop just... accepting things."

She released my hand so she could take the ring box from mine, holding it close with one hand and stroking over the stone with the other.

"So, in short, yes. You have my blessing. Nothing would make me happier than to see my only granddaughter marry the man she loves down to her bones." She handed me the ring back and gave me a knowing smile. "You can stop sweating now," she added, making me throw my head back and laugh.

And then I stopped sweating.

I had her blessing.

I was going to marry the woman who loved me down to her bones, the woman who I loved down to mine.Duke- 2.5 years"Shh," she said, back to me, as she leaned over the crib and put Gracie in bed.

Penny was convinced that I even breathed loudly and that the very difficult to get to sleep Gracie got startled awake by it.

I watched as she tiptoed away from the crib toward the door, flicking off the light and the ceiling lit up with glow stars. She flicked on the rain machine she bought as a last-ditch effort to keep the never-tired Gracie asleep. No one was more shocked than me when it actually fucking worked.

She backed up into me, hissing out a breath, obviously expecting that I had done what she said and disappeared. My arm went around her belly and I leaned down to kiss her neck.

She sighed into it for a second before moving backward, closing the door as she did. As soon as we were in the hall, her hands grabbed my arm, trying to dislodge it from her stomach.

"Knock that shit off," I grumbled, nipping into her ear.

Since she had Gracie, she had become almost insanely insecure about her stomach. Really, it wasn't even that different. But even if it was, who could expect anything different. She had carried my baby in there. I actually kind of liked that there was proof of what she had done.

She, however, was not of the same mind. But no matter how hard she trained, she never seemed satisfied.

"You know," I said, letting my hand drift lower, teasing across the waistband of her pants. "Gracie is a year now..."

"Mhmm," she agreed, leaning into me, her eyes closing.

"Think maybe it's time to get to work on the next one," I told her, my hand sliding into her pants, pressing down on her clit through her panties.