Lucky's Choice
Page 70

 “Are we allowed to switch?”
 Winter frowned. “Allowed?”
 “We don’t get in trouble?”
 Ember and Raci both stopped what they were doing to stare at her.
 “We don’t get in trouble,” Winter explained. “We’re not children, and we’re not in boot camp. If you don’t do a chore, someone else usually steps up and takes care of it. The only time someone gets in trouble here is if you hurt someone within the club or show disrespect.”
 “Disrespect?”
 “Like, for example, you can’t tell Viper to go fuck himself. Only I can do that.” Winter smiled. “Seriously, Willa, we’re pretty laid-back. So, do you want to switch?”
 “I would love to.”
 “You just made my day. I get to keep my regular schedule next week.”
 Willa didn’t notice Raci and Ember rolling their eyes behind her back.
 “Is there any way to bake oatmeal in the oven?” Ember asked.
 “Sorry, no, but you can do it in a crockpot. It’s too late to do it today, but you can start it tonight when you go to bed, and it will be ready in the morning.”
 Ember’s disappointed expression brightened. “I’ll do that.”
 The side door opened, and Lucky came into the kitchen at the same time several of the other members came to eat. The kitchen became crowded, so Willa moved out of the way, watching as her husband fixed his plate. When he sat down, she poured him a cup of coffee and placed it in front of him.
 “Thank you.” Lucky tugged her down for his morning kiss.
 Willa straightened when he was done, blushing at the show of affection in front of the other men and women.
 “You have a busy schedule today?” he asked, beginning to eat.
 “Yes,” Willa answered, moving to lean against the refrigerator as Winter, Viper, and Rider sat down to eat.
 Shade and Lily came in the backdoor, and Willa melted when she saw Shade carrying his son. She and Lily had started driving in to the church together in the morning.
 When Raci took the bacon out of the oven, Willa took two pieces for Lucky, setting them on his plate. Winter, who was chewing her own piece, lifted her brow as Jewell sat down at the table next to Winter.
 “Aren’t you eating?” her husband asked, looking over his shoulder at her.
 “I already ate.” She had eaten an apple while she had watched the women cook.
 Willa poured Lucky a glass of orange juice, setting it down next to his plate.
 “Do you always wait on Lucky?” Winter asked, her toast poised at her mouth.
 Willa smiled down at her husband. “A wife serves her husband’s needs.”
 The room went silent.
 Jewell put her fork down on the table. “You’re kidding, right? Do you know what century this is?”
 “I know it’s old-fashioned, but I like to make sure Lucky has a good breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day. My mother would get up every morning and fix my father’s breakfast, and they were married thirty-seven years,” Willa boasted. “They never spent a night apart, and they were very much in love. They were so much so that they never planned on having children, content with each other.”
 “That must have been very lonely for you.” Lucky reached out, taking her hand then pulling her closer to side, wrapping an arm around her waist. Willa leaned against him, placing her arm across his broad shoulders.
 “Sometimes, but I would use the time to read my Bible or bake once I was old enough. I spent summers with my grandmother since she was a teacher and had summers off. She was the one who taught me to cook and bake.” Willa smiled, reminiscing.
 “Your mother didn’t let you cook?” Winter asked sharply.
 “Oh, no. My mother was the only one allowed to serve my father. She would feed me my food before he went to work and before he came home. Then she would wait at the door twenty minutes before he came home.”
 “That must have been difficult for you,” Lily said.
 “No, it was very structured. I would spend two hours with my father every evening doing my homework. My father was very intelligent.”
 “Yes, he was.” Jewell’s sarcastic voice didn’t make it seem like a compliment, and Willa frowned.
 “Don’t misunderstand. My father and mother were very much in love. They were enough for each other. I was the accident. I was the one in the way.”
 “They actually told you this?” Lucky snarled, pulling her closer to him.
 “My mother did when I misbehaved or didn’t do my Bible lessons.”
 “Your Bible lessons?”
 “Yes, every good, Christian girl should know her Bible. She used to say a quote, and I would tell her what scripture it was. Or she would reverse it and tell me the scripture, and I would tell her the quote. I would study my Bible every night after dinner while my mother and father watched television. She would sit on the floor and lay her head on his knee while he sat on the couch. It was beautiful watching them together.”
 Willa’s attention was diverted when Winter made gagging noises, which she stopped when Viper sent her a stern look.
 “My father would look at my mother like that all the time. I miss them when I think back on my childhood.” Willa glanced down at her watch. “Ready, Lily?”
 “Yes.” Lily gave her husband a kiss before taking her son who had been sitting on Shade’s lap while Lily ate her breakfast.
 “Have a good day, angel.”
 Willa smiled, thinking her friend blushed as much as she did.
 Willa started to leave, but Lucky kept her pinned to his side. “I don’t get a kiss?”
 Willa bent, giving him his kiss.
 “You going to be at the church all day?”
 “Yes. I’m filling orders today, and Carl will be making the deliveries.”
 “Call me when you’re on your way home.”
 “All right,” Willa agreed, rushing after Lily out the backdoor.
 Lily wouldn’t carry the baby down the front steps; she always used the side path to the parking lot.
 Driving into work with Lily and John was one aspect of the club she was enjoying. Lily would let her pack the baby into the church store and hold him while she set up the register. She missed being around Lucky during the day and worried constantly about him being alone with the women members until Lily told her they worked in the factory until five. As a result, Willa always made sure she was home by four-thirty. She didn’t want anyone fulfilling any of her husband’s needs except her.
 * * *
 “That woman needs to grow a backbone,” Winter said, glaring accusingly at Lucky.
 “I’ve told her not to wait on me. She’s getting better. When we first married, she wouldn’t let me get my own plate.” Whenever he had told her he could do something for himself, she would give him a wounded look that had him backing off. Therefore, Lucky had gone slowly, not wanting to hurt Willa’s feelings.