A while later, Tig and I were getting ready to head out.
"I've gotta go pack the apartment up. Unser said he'd drop of the truck off," I said.
"Yeah, yeah, okay," Tig said. He seemed suddenly distracted.
"What's going on Tig?" I asked.
"Do you want to get married?" He asked.
"Of course I do babe," I said.
"No like soon," he said. "Like, will you marry me?"
He slid one of his rings off and held it out to me.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yeah, you're the one for me Sammy. Always have been," he said.
"I'd love to marry you Tig," I said, kissing his lips quickly.
He grabbed my hand and slid his ring onto my thumb. Even there it was a little big.
"Until I can get you a proper engagement ring," he said, kissing the ring.
"Do you want to make an announcement?" I asked.
"To the club?" He asked. I nodded a little.
"Nah. Clay and your mother don't want you around for a few days so they don't get to know," he said. I rolled my eyes at him but I had to agree. They forced me out not the other way around.
"Can we go tell Dad?" I asked softly.
"Yeah of course," he said. We headed out to his bike and he drove us down to the cemetery. I steeled my nerves as we walked towards my fathers headstone hand in hand.
"You want a minute?" Tig asked. He used to accompany me to visit Dad and Tommy's gravestones when I was home from college on breaks so this was nothing new to him.
"Yeah," I said nodding a little.
I kneeled down in front of my father's headstone and just sat there for a second.
"Dad, I'm getting married," I said softly after a while. "And I have a daughter. Same spitfire attitude I had. Now I know why you loved me so much. I wish you were here to see it all. You'd love Ava and Tig. I hope I'm making you proud."
"You are," Piney said. I jumped a little, having not anticipated hearing someone's voice.
"He'd be so proud of you. And he'd love Tig and Ava just as much as you do," Piney said as I stood up.
"Thank you Piney," I said. He nodded and hugged me tightly.
"You're my goddaughter," he said. "You need anything you come to me."
"Piney," I said. I looked at Tig and he walked over. "We're getting married."
"He asked me if I thought JT would be okay with it," Piney said. I smiled softly.
"I hope so," I said.
"He would," Piney reassured me.
"I'm going to go tell Tommy," I said. "Thank you again Piney."
He nodded and I walked off towards my baby brother's headstone. I smiled at the engraving, a picture of my baby brother smiled back at me.
"Hey Tommy," I said. "I know it's been a while. I'm real sorry to do that to ya. I remember how much you used to hate when Dad would leave." I took a deep breath and continued talking, telling my baby brother about his niece and his future brother in law.
"Babe," Tig said, running up. "Emergency at the clubhouse."
"What happened?"
"Jax just said to get there," he said. I nodded and we headed off for the clubhouse, dreading whatever was to come. I tried to calm down as TM came into view but my nerves were on fire as Tig followed Piney into the lot and parked his bike. I jumped off the second it was parked and ran over to Ava, pulling her into my arms before Tig caught up. I heard crying and screaming and turned towards the sound. The sight broke my heart.