Protection

Eleanor Martin had parked her white 2011 Chevrolet Cruze in the customer parking lot of what seemed to be a local Charming diner, she had just arrived in the small town but was nervous.

She stopped off to get herself a flat white coffee in hopes it’d calm her nerves, she smiled when a lady set the white mug on the table in front of her.

“Thank you very much, Gwen,” She smiled at the woman who looked to be in her mid-forties, she had to take a quick glance at the woman’s name tag as she had forgotten the name she introduced herself as.

The metal chair she was sitting on wasn’t the most comfortable, the padding wasn’t thick and a blue with white polka dot vinyl was covering the padding.

However she wouldn’t be staying there long, at least she really hoped not as she wanted to get this over and done with as soon as possible.

Reaching for the glass container of sugar, she carefully measured two even teaspoons of sugar that immediately dissolved once touching the hot coffee.

Stirring the light liquid with the teaspoon, she watched the liquid swirl around in the ceramic mug.

Her stomach was in knots and honestly felt a little sore, she had already eaten before arriving in town so it wasn’t because she was hungry.

She had practiced what she was going to say, but what could she say to her Dad that she knew pretty much nothing about.

She had his name and an address of where he worked, which was all she could find out. She hated quitting her job at the Nevada primary school, however she knew it had to be done otherwise she’d be constantly in fear and no one should deal with that.

Her mind was absolutely blank as she sipped her coffee, she couldn’t think of anything but when she came face to face with her father.

Her Mom had told her that he didn’t know about her, she had believed it until she found letters and cards addressed to her from her father.

Eleanor had gone through her mother’s belongings when she passed, there had been a shoe box in the back of her mother’s closet.

It was filled right up to the lid and yet it had been hidden from her since she was born, she desperately wanted to be angry but there was no point considering she couldn’t get any answers now.

She had spent hours reading the letters and cards, she cried and laughed all at the same time. She may not personally know this man but she felt like they had a connect, a connect that nothing could break.

Although that should make her feel more confident, she shouldn’t be nervous about meeting him but he could easily reject her.

She did have a feeling deep down that he wouldn’t, that he’d want to know her because he did after all write to her even after getting nothing in return.

The thought made her drink the coffee at a faster and it only took her a few more minutes before she fished through her purse, leaving the correct money plus a tip on the table before she made her way outside to where her car was parked.

Her thumb pressed the rubber button that unlocked the doors of her car, climbing in she placed the seatbelt across her body. Turning the engine on, she reserved out of the park and followed the directions that the GPS was giving her.

She took in as much scenery as she could while driving, the town seemed pretty quiet and nice. Something that Eleanor wasn’t used to but found relaxing, the GPS told her that she had arrived at the destination.

Finding a parking spot nearby, she locked the car placing the straps of her handbag over her shoulder. Looking at the sign above the store caused confusion to settle on her face, Scoops and Sweets was an ice cream parlour which apparently her father worked in.

However she stepped forward and pushed the glass door open, a bell sounded as she walked into the store. Her warm deep brown eyes scanned the store, an older male was behind the counter but smiled once his eyes landed on her.

Eleanor however was quick to notice that both his hands were artificial, not that it bothered her so she returned his friendly smile. “Hello Miss, how may I help you today?” He asked in an equally friendly voice.

“Hi, I’m not sure if I’m in the right place or not. But I’m after a Happy Lowman,” She didn’t even have to look at the name on the piece of paper she had the address on, she hadn’t forgotten his name since she first spoke it.

“Oh… and who may you be?” The man asked and she thought nothing of it, it would help in getting to know where her father was and if he was around for her to meet.

“My name is Eleanor and I’m Happy’s daughter, I know I’ve arrived out of the blue. But I’d appreciate anything that you can do,” She spoke hoping that Happy was there or at least close by, she didn’t want to wait any longer for this.

“Hold on, darlin’. You’re Eleanor? The Eleanor that Happy never shuts up about, holy shit, he was beginning to think that he’d never meet you.” Eleanor looked over behind her shoulder when a deep voice sounded, her eyes landed on an attractive blonde male with baby blue eyes that she knew would express every emotion he was feeling.

“I guess so, yes. Is he around right now? I can come back if he isn’t,” She asked as glanced between the two men, the blonde one was wearing a simple white t-shirt. A leather vest sitting on top, a frown formed between her brows as she noticed the patches on the vest.

President was the top patch and was newer than the others, below was Men of Mayhem. On the opposite side were two single patches, Redwood Original that made no sense to her at all.

A few tattoos tainted his arms and thick heavy rings stayed put on his fingers, another patch peeked out on the right side though she couldn’t fully see what it said.

“He’s out right now, but Chuckie will give Hap a call. I’m Jax and welcome to Charming, you’ve come a long way. Hap said you lived in Nevada,” The blonde, now known as Jax, said to her with this half grin half smirk that she could already tell was used on many women before herself.

Watching as Chuck made his way over to the phone that hung on the wall, she guessed he was aged in his early fifes.

His hair line had receded and was beginning to bald on top of his head, however facial hair covered his lower face. A light blue plaid shirt was buttoned up over a grey t-shirt, he gave of such a warm feeling.

“How do you know that I’m from Nevada?” She asked knowing that he couldn’t simply just know that about her, nothing gave off that information apart from her number plates and he couldn’t see her car from where he was standing.

“That’s something for Happy to tell ya about, I will say that he has found you before. He never went close, but he kept tracks on ya.” Jax explained to her only to catch her off guard with his words, her father had searched and found her without her knowing.

“I had no idea he did that, I only just found out that he wanted to be involved in my life. My mother made him out to be a horrible person, I should have known better.” Of course Eleanor was going to be cross with herself, her entire life she believe that Happy wanted nothing to do with her.

She had been proved wrong.

“He thought it’d be better if ya didn’t know, darlin’. He was keepin’ ya safe,” Jax told her as he knew exactly where Happy was coming from, not that he spoke about the situation much, in fact Jax only knew as his close friend opened up once when he had drank way too much.

“I guess he was right, my mother never did say anything nice about him after all.” She said simply and left it at that, she wasn’t going to tell this stranger her life story and she didn’t know if she could trust Jax or not.

Yes he was friends with her father, but it was obvious that Scoops and Sweets was a cover for whatever Jax was the President of. She wasn’t in any position to flat out ask the attractive blonde what her father was involved in, she also wasn’t that forward to anyone.

Neither had time to speak again as a loud roar of motorbikes echoed through the street, turning Eleanor watched several bikes slow down and reserve into the parking lots right in front of the ice cream store.

Watching the men kill the engines of their bikes, Eleanor saw the back of the vests that they were wearing and more patches were sewn on the leather.

Sons of Anarchy was arched over the shoulders, in the middle was a Grim Reaper holding a crystal ball with the Anarchist circle-A symbol which as wielding the Reaper's traditional scythe however the handle has been replaced by the M16 rifle. A smaller MC patch was in the corner and a California patch arched along the lower back area.

Hurrying back through the front door, it caused all attention to fall onto her. Her eyes fell over three men, none of which she felt anything for nor did they have the tanned skin that she hadn’t received from her mother.

“Eleanor, baby?” A deep rough voice cut through all other sounds for Eleanor, her eyes landed on another pair of eyes that matched her own perfectly.

A naturally tanned tall man stepped forward, a look of shock and love settled on his face once he realised that his only child was standing in front of him.

His shaved hair and light facial hair was similar to how she had imagined him, she still couldn’t believe her eyes that had started welling up with tears.

He was more than she ever expected, she had been forcing herself to stay strong and had held herself together for so long now.

She felt her wall breaking around her, she felt two strong arms wrap around her body as Happy brought her into his chest.

She had never felt the sense that she was home, growing up her mother was addicted to various drugs. So she wasn’t around much and when she was, she was constantly high or was coming down from a high.

But being in her Dad’s secure arms made her feel like she had finally found where she belonged, the place she could call home for the rest of her life.

She definitely needed to do this earlier, but she was there now and that’s all that mattered to her right that second.