Things hadn't changed any as the children grew up. You have Kaiser and Mac graduating high school and the twins going into Junior year in high school. Mac is the only one of the two going college. She preferred online classes so she could stay home and be around her family. She didn't like the fact of leaving the house without her brothers. Kaiser is working on taking over Bryant's Vice President position. It's crazy to think that Kylie would have been a freshmen. Parts of me wonder what she'd be like today. Would she be a spitfire like her sister? Mischievous like the twins? Or knowledgeable like Kaiser, who likes to analyze everything first? Would she a free spirit or grounded? Maybe a mixture of all four of her siblings? We'll never know but only guess what she'd be like because we were robbed of seeing her grow and become her own person. Kaiser had this trail up in the mountains named after her. She has a beautiful marker with flowers surrounding it at the beginning of the pathway. At the top of the pathway is a bench that sits at the highest point. It's where he believes he's the closest to her because it's so high up that it feels like you're practically touching the clouds. It's where he likes to go to think, to relax, or to feel close with Kylie. When he's pissed or upset, that's where you will find him... Talking to the sky as he rants for his sister to hear. That's all I thought about as Bryant and I were at the clubhouse with the Onyx and Jolene. My thoughts came crashing down on me when Mac comes storming through the clubhouse with tear stained cheeks and blood shot eyes.

"Mom! What the fuck is this!" She screams as her voice cracks. She thrusts crumpled papers into my chest as she steps back with tears falling from her small chin.

"Mac, what is the matter?" I ask. I open the crumpled mess and see tear stains blotting the documents. As I stare at them with humongous eyes. I let out a gasp of shock and glance back at our daughter. She has defeat in her eyes as she can tell what's on these papers are the truth. The one secret I wished I could have kept a little longer is now out in the open. And McKenzie looks crushed.

"Let me explain." I beg McKenzie.

"Someone better explain to me! Why does it say dad adopted me!" Her screams rattle my eardrums as it echos through the clubhouse.

"Princess...." Bryant starts off. You can see the turmoil in her teary eyes. One that looks as if she wants to stay rooted where she is or to run into her father's arms like she's always done.

"Please, take a seat Mac. Let your parents explain." Onyx says.

"Uncle, you knew?" Mac questions him. I watch as Onyx looks down and it's like it's the answer Mac needed. Because her small face has hurt written all over it. Like the entire world had betrayed her. The more she glanced and scanned the room, the more her face fell and her eyes swelled with more unshed tears.

"Sis! What the hell? You took off like the ground was lava!" Kai says winded as he storms towards Mac.

"Kaiser, did you know?" She turns around and ask her protector.

"Know fucking what?" Kai fires back equally pissed off.

"Dad isn't my fucking father!" She yells while her face is blood shot red and her eyes are puffy from crying. Kaiser's mouth drops. He looks like he isn't even breathing. Mac's legs give out and she hits the floor from the shock. Kaiser follows suit and is sitting right beside her while holding her crumpled form in his arms. They always had a special bond. A bond no one will ever understand.

"Please, everyone leave now!" Onyx's voice booms.
All that's left is Kaiser, McKenzie, Onyx, Bryant, and I.

"I..." Bryant begins to speak.

"I want the truth dad. Please!" Mac's out to her father with pleading eyes.

"Let me tell you a story of my past. All your questions will be answered in it." I begin to tell her.
Kaiser and her both nod their heads.

"When I was little, I was born on the wrong side of the tracks. I was born to a prostitute. She visited the local MC in Vander every weekend. She got knocked up and had me. I grew up quickly and had to learn to raise myself. My mother died when I was 18 from an overdose. The town pitied me because my mother never knew who my father was. I became the club's entertainment. I was a stripper there. I became a club bunny or as some people know it. A sweet butt. Except I only truly every done anything with one man. Before I had walked through the club's doors for a job. The VP's first love took off. Annabelle.." I pause for a moment to get a grip on my emotions.

"I was warned not to play with that fire because once she comes back, I would be tossed like trash to the side. I didn't listen and within a matter of months we hooked up. We had our thing for two years...." I pause again and look down at my wedding ring.

"I thought..... I thought we would have been together. Marry and have children. However, he just used me to get sex and whatever else. Just to forget about her. Two year after she left. He came waltzing in the clubhouse with her attached to his arm. He looked me in the face.. Emotionless.. Announces that his long-lost sweetheart, the President's sister, was his ol' lady. I started to drink more each week. Each week he was parading her around. Two months goes by and he drops to one knee and proposes to her. With me being front and center in the group of members. Weeks later I found out I was four months pregnant.... With you... No one knew he was the father. I said it was from a one-night stand. Once I had you everyone started to noticed you had some of his features. Even him. So, I packed up and moved here with you. I worked at Mac's Bar and they let us stay in the apartment above the bar." I pause yet again to give my voice a rest. It's been cracking in every sentence I've spoke. Tears are rolling down my face as tears welling in Bryant's eyes. Kaiser squeezing Mac's hand doesn't go unnoticed.

"Your dad, Bear has tried for months and months to get me to go on one date. Just one with him. I always refused. Since his mother watched Kaiser and you in their house. We were always together. He was the one who helped you learn to walk. I saw the love he had for you in his eyes. I agreed to one date, knowing it would be more because I was falling for Bear. Eventually Bear and Onyx learned who he was and a week later Bear had adoption papers signed and everything. You went from McKenzie Isabella Compton-Jenning to McKenzie Isabella Archer. We didn't want to hurt you or confuse you. So, we decided to keep it a secret. Locked away in our hearts. To save you from any hurt he would cause you." I finish explaining. Both our eldest have tears streaming down their faces by the time I finished my story. I watch as Bryant crouches down and wipes Mac's soaking wet cheeks and slobbery face.

"No matter what this piece of trash paper says McKenzie. You are my daughter. Blood or not. You are an Archer and you always will be. You are the toothless girl, who had me wrapped around her little fat chubby fingers. You're the girl who ran to me when she scraped her knee. The same little girl who came running to me with her paper, showing me that she got 100 on her test. The same very little girl who asked me to go to her father daughter dance. That same freckle faced girl who came crying to me when she had a nightmare. That same little girl who asked me to teach her how to ride a Harley. You are the same girl who ask for her father daughter days. No matter what Princess, I will always be your father. I pray one day you will forgive us for deceiving you. I love you Mac with my whole heart not just a piece of it. You, McKenzie Isabella Archer are my world. You always have been. You always will be." Bryant tells her as he wipes his own tears.

"I. You. Dad?" She stumbles on her question. But Bryant knew exactly what she was asking.

"I'm always your dad. Your father Mac. Always."
I watch as Mac launches herself into her father's arms as he calms her down. It's a moment they both needed. As he lets her down, she walks back towards the door with Kaiser behind her.

"I love you daddy!" She says over her shoulder with a smile that doesn't quite reach her beautiful eyes.

"I love you too, Princess." He calls out.

"Pizza?" She asks from the door.

"I'll be home with pizza in 30." He says with his silly grin.

"Slow your asses down before I beat you senseless!" I yell out at my children as they race back home. All we could hear over their motorcycles was the laughter from both of our eldest children.
As I sit on the steps of the porch, Bryant sits beside me and pulls his arm over my shoulder. In a soft tug he has me leaning against him.

"The truth would have came out sooner than later but at least it's out now. We might have betrayed her but she'll learn we were only trying to shelter her. No matter what Kate, McKenzie will always be my daughter." He whispers. His lips hit my temple then he gets up from his seat. Twenty minutes later, he's back with six pizza boxes and a bag of random shit. We bid our goodbyes and head back up the hill towards our home. Exactly thirty minutes like Bryant said, we're walking through our front door. As Bryant sits the food down, McKenzie is already face first into her father's chest.

I saddens my heart to know that she felt betrayed and hurt. But, if I had a redo I would let it play out how it just did. The exact same way. The secrets came unravel and the truths were spilled. But, Bryant will always be her father.

Blood or not.