Fifty

"Kerri, I'm so glad you're here, darlin'," Chibs beamed from the doorway, before jogging over to sweep his daughter into a warm hug. "Look at you – I can't believe my wee lassie's so grown up."

It was true. Even the last time he had seen her in person, he'd been struck by the realisation that his daughter was no longer really a child and that was longer ago than he liked to think. Now, stood in front of him in ripped black jeans and a tank top, with most of her mother's features and only something around the eyes that spoke of him, that usually unruly dark hair more or less tamed in a long braid and the tiniest of diamond studs glittering in her nose, she seemed alarmingly on the verge of turning into a grown woman right in front of him.

"Hi, dad," she mumbled, returning his hug awkwardly.

She could still be a little shy around him at times, something that made his heart ache, knowing it came from that unfamiliarity that should never exist between a parent and a child. He'd been prepared for that though, determined to use the few days she'd be staying to build a better bond between them. Shyness wasn't exactly in his nature, so he'd figured it shouldn't be too hard to draw the teenager out of herself, just as she'd grown a little more comfortable around him and his brothers last time he'd been in Belfast.

He felt a fresh pang at that though, knowing that she had naturally gravitated towards the younger Sons. In much the same way as she looked up to Mo Ashby's girl Trinity, she'd been more than a little in awe of the likes of Jax and Juice and had seemed to love what little opportunity had presented itself to just hang out and play cards. So much had changed since then, so many of the faces she would have recognised now gone.

The biker ducked his head for a second, forcing himself to focus on the present, rather than let old ghosts rear their head again for too long. Besides, he was already starting to have an inkling that this visit might not all be plain sailing – before even accounting for having to somehow break the baby news.

Fiona had rightly counselled that she would have to at least tell their daughter about Eden's existence, rather than have her make that discovery when she turned up on the doorstep. Still, even if it had disgruntled her, he'd hoped Kerrianne would at least be a little excited at the prospect of staying with him. She'd been the one pushing for it after all. He hadn't factored in the current sulky gaze though, something that seemed more defiant than unsure, and he tried to keep the little frown that was brewing off his face.

"Want a hand wi' yer stuff?" Chibs tried, sticking his hands awkwardly in the back pockets of his jeans. "Got the spare room all ready for ya ..."

"Whatever," came the non-committal shrug, making him exchange a look with Fiona over the girl's head, but his estranged wife simply hauled a rucksack out of the trunk of her rental car and dumped it at his feet as she raised her eyebrows knowingly.

Good luck seemed to be the unspoken message.

"Now, you be good for your da, you hear me?" she told Kerrianne, gripping her by the shoulders before pulling her into a hug, kissing her cheeks. "Sure, you know I'm only going to visit my cousin Kathleen in San Francisco. I'll be back to pick you up in a few days."

"Don't see why you can't stay too," Kerrianne muttered, letting go of her mother and shouldering her bag, despite her father trying to reach for it for it.

"We both know that wouldn't be the best idea," Fiona said, with a wry smile. "Hey, it'll be good for you to spend some quality time wi' your dad."

Her daughter rolled her eyes, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like and her.

"Take care o' our girl, Filip," Fiona told him, kissing his cheek too, before climbing back into the car. "Call me. Let me know how yous are getting on."

And just like that, she was gone, leaving father and daughter staring after her.

"Right then," Chibs said, taking a deep breath and trying to sound cheerful as his thoughts shifted back to the anxious woman he'd left waiting inside. Eden must have changed five or six times that morning, the mile-a-minute accompanying commentary telling him the pretty little floral dress was trying too hard, the simple jeans and t-shirt not trying hard enough, and other such insights he was apparently too much of a man to understand, but should expect his daughter to be fully across. "Shall we?"

Kerrianne reluctantly pulled her gaze away from watching her mother's car disappear into the distance and followed her dad towards the house.


"Look who's here, darlin'!" Chibs called, ushering Kerrianne through to the kitchen where Eden was hovering and trying to look casual, but welcoming. She'd changed back into the first dress after all, but topped it with a cropped denim jacket and pulled on tan ankle boots. Chibs didn't understand the fuss, but thought she looked cute as hell anyway. "Eden, this is my daughter Kerrianne – Kerri, this is my … Eden."

Both of them shot him a glance, Eden sympathetic to his predicament of how best to introduce her and Kerrianne looking uncomfortable at having to give any kind of consideration to the particulars of her father's love life. Then they looked at each other, Eden with a bright smile that only looked a little forced and Kerrianne with one that was definitely forced and that stopped just short of disdain.

"Hi! It's so lovely to meet you," Eden ploughed ahead gamely, rounding the counter only to realise she hadn't thought through whether to shake hands or go for a hug, the dilemma playing out across her face for a second before she settled for a little hug that was really just squeezing the younger girl's stiff shoulders. "Oh, here, let your dad take that bag upstairs – or maybe you want to go up and see your room? Get settled in, freshen up, or … Tea! Would you like some tea? It'll be just like you have at home. Your dad won't drink anything else …"

"Tell you what, why don't I show ya upstairs and then we'll all have a nice wee cuppa and you can catch us up on how Belfast's been?" Chibs said, taking charge and pointing Kerrianne in the direction of the stairs as he shouldered her bag. "Up to the landing and you're down to the far left. I'll be right behind you."

Sensing she was being dismissed from the adults' company, the teenager barely stifled a sigh and headed for the stairs, only just disappearing out of sight when Eden groaned and sank her head into her hands.

"Could I sound any more desperate? I might as well have shrieked 'Please like me!' in the poor girl's face," she lamented, making Chibs chuckle.

"Cut yersel' some slack, pet. We knew she'd be a wee bit uncomfortable wi' us at first. Gi' her time to settle in, get to know you. Get to know me, for that matter. We've been in touch a wee bit more since the last time I was in Belfast, but phone calls and emails ain't the same as being around."

"You're still her dad, that connection's still always going to be there," Eden said, pushing aside her own apprehensions to reassure her old man. He might have been doing a better job of hiding it, but she knew he was nervous about the visit too and desperately wanted it to go well. So she'd do anything she could to help. "It'll all be fine, I'm sure of it."

"Tell yer face then," he teased. "Don't look so worried, darlin'. At the end o' the day, she's a teenage girl – what's the worst that could happen?"

"Seriously? As someone who was a teenage girl, do you really want me to answer that?"

"Not when you put it like that," he frowned, before dropping a little kiss on her head and trying to shrug off any misgivings again. "Right, you make tea and I'll go take Kerri her stuff. Jesus, what's the lass got in this thing? Bloody great big rocks?"

"What's the plan for later then?"

"Uh, I thought we could spin by the clubhouse, show Kerri around, introduce her to whoever's about. And then … Um, I kinda have a wee bit o' business I can't really trust anyone else wi' …"

Eden's eyes widened. "What? You're leaving her with me? Filip! She'll hate that."

"No, she won't," he scoffed. "Be grand. Thought ya could take her into town, bit o' girl time. Get milkshakes, or … fuck, I dunno, get yer hair done or something …"

"Are you saying I need to get my hair done?"

"No, 'cause you're always fucking stunning and I'm not a total idiot," he shot back. "Just thought my girls might like a wee bit o' pampering – whatever ya like, my treat. And then, if yous are good, I'll take ya both for dinner somewhere nice tonight. That okay? I'm bloody trying here, darlin' …"

Cutting him some slack, Eden smiled as she reached to caress his cheek tenderly and then pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. "I know," she told him softly, thinking of how he had fussed over making the spare room comfortable for their guest. "You're a lovely daddy. And I can't wait to see you with our little one."

The rucksack dropped to the floor again at that as Chibs pulled her into his arms for a proper kiss.


After the bustle of Belfast – a city that, despite its troubled past and sometimes still violent undercurrent, managed to be vibrant and with a thriving social scene – Charming, with its lack of chain stores or big name brands, proved positively quaint. But, while Kerrianne might have secretly quite liked the change of pace and enjoyed the novelty of being somewhere new, she certainly wasn't prepared to admit it.

And so, she'd greeted the tiny beauty salon Eden had finally shown her when she'd appeared to have exhausted the rest of the town's sights with a roll of her eyes even she knew was ungrateful.

"It's not the fanciest place in the world," the older woman – who still seemed ridiculously young to Kerrianne, in the context of her relationship with her father - said, almost apologetically. "But it's kinda cute and Marie, the owner, she's a sweetheart. I thought we could get, like, mani-pedis or something maybe? Or a facial? Whatever you like – your dad's paying …"

But Eden's playful smile faltered even as the words came out of her mouth and she frowned at how it sounded. "This isn't what I do, you know. Swanning around town, spending your dad's money. He just felt bad he couldn't spend the whole day with you, so he wanted to treat you. We don't have to do this – we can go somewhere else, do whatever you want. He just thought you might like it."

Even though her spirits lifted a little at hearing how her dad had tried to think of something nice for her, Kerrianne continued to study the little menu-style flyer in the window with a detached expression.

"This is fine," she shrugged, pushing open the door and setting the hanging windchimes jingling lightly.

Eden, blowing out a breath behind her back, followed her inside, beyond grateful for a reprieve from trying to keep up a flow of awkward small talk and making a mental note to let her old man know he seriously owed her. And it'd take more than a mani-pedi to settle that bill.


"You need back-up for this little mystery mission of yours?" Tig asked, ready to throw off his work shirt and head for his bike until the Samcro president shook his head.

"Nah, this is all me, my brother," Chibs said. "Personal shit. Kind of. I ain't keeping ya in the dark, Tiggy – I just gotta get going, so I can get back before Eden wants my guts. Left her wi' Kerri in town."

"Tough gig," Tig acknowledged, a flicker of something crossing his face at the memory of his own twin girls, but he quickly shrugged it off to focus on his present concern. "Still, you don't ride alone. Especially when we've got our guest still stewing at the cabin. War Boys or the pricks who dumped him on us in the first place, who knows when they might decide to check in."

"This ain't the sort o' trip I want to be bringing an entourage on … All right, all right, calm that curly head o' yours," Chibs relented, already throwing a leg over his bike. "I'll take Charlie. He ain't exactly gonna intimidate anyone. I was gonna send him to referee the girls, but I didn't fancy the lad's chances o' survival. Seemed cruel, even for a prospect."

"You're too soft on the boy," Tig grinned. "I'll get him."

Raking a hand through his hair and putting on his helmet, Chibs paused before buckling it to check in the inside pocket of his cut for the information he needed. For a second, he thought he'd left it somewhere, but then his fingers closed on the scrap of paper where he'd scrawled the details Bug had turned up for him.

The home address and place of work for one Aubrey Moore.

He could only hope he wasn't about to make things worse.