After the first shock wore off, they all had taken a seat at a bigger table where everyone could have a seat. Madison tried to read into everyone's reaction, hoping they weren't too mad at Gemma. Yet she could understand if they were.

To be honest she also felt a bit of a disappointment that Gemma had never mentioned her. But who was she to judge? She wasn't here to judge anyone, but to build a relationship with her birth mother. For twenty five years she hadn't had a mother figure in her life, and that's exactly what she wanted to change now that she had the courage to do so.

“So you're telling me I have a sister who's only a few years younger? That you just gave away?” Jax raised an eyebrow at his mother, who lowered her gaze.

Gemma clasped her hands on the table and sucked in a sharp breath, nodding. “Yes I did and I still regret my decision to this day. But I wasn't ready for another child at the time. Thomas wasn't even gone a year and I still had you.”

“And then you thought it might be a good idea to just give her up and not tell anyone?”, the blonde snorted, clearly angry at his mother's former secret.

“Jax.” Nero threw the younger one a look that was probably supposed to be a bit soothing, but it didn't really work at the moment. But apparently the older one took the news a lot better.

“What would've changed if I had told you, or anyone, about this?”, Gemma asked with a sigh, genuinely trying to understand her son's anger while leaning slightly against Nero's side. At least he wasn't mad at her.

“Don't you think I had a right to know that I have a sister? She also had the right to know me. My kids have an aunt they don't even know about.” Disappointment still written all over his face, Jax rubbed his face and let out a sigh before looking at the brunette who sat quietly at the table, looking a bit lost.

“Did you at least have a good family around you?”, he asked with a faint smile.

He liked the idea of having a sister and he was sure that Tara could also get along well with her. He had a half sister in Ireland but they haven't kept in touch after what had almost happened between them. Above all, he was happy for Abel and Thomas that they would probably have an aunt here in Charming in the future.

“Not the best of parents, but it could've been worse. But my older brother is amazing”, she replied, also giving him a faint smile. “I would be really happy if I could get to know you all. Only if you want of course.”

Madison had never been pushy. If someone didn't appreciate her company, she wouldn't force them to. However, these weren't just strangers, but her family and she would probably be affected a little more if no one was interested in getting to know her.

“Hey, you're welcome here anytime, darlin'. You're family”, Jax quickly retorted, getting another, wider smile from her.

“Thanks, that's really sweet of you”, she said honestly and looked nervously at her mother, who looked at her almost longingly and carefully laid a hand on hers. The brunette noticed that the older woman was still a little insecure, but she felt the same way.

“Of course I want to get to know you, sweetheart”, Gemma announced firmly. “I'm really sorry that I just gave you away. But at the time it was just the right decision.”

“It's okay, I survived”, Madison replied with a slightly nervous chuckle. That's exactly what she did, she survived.

“How did you actually manage that nobody noticed anything about it? The pregnancy, the birth and all that.” There was no judgement in Nero's voice, just pure interest and he wasn't the only one who had been secretly wondering that.

“Well, when I was pregnant with Jax I couldn't hide it at all. But it was different with Thomas and Madison. I only had a small bump that was easy to hide. And the birth...I told the others that I had to go to the hospital because of my heart. Only Clay knew about the whole thing”, Gemma said with a rueful look and felt her son's eyes burn into her soul.

“Clay knew about this but your own son didn't?” Jax fumed.

“You were eight, Jackson! I made a mistake but like I said it was the right thing for everyone at the time”, Gemma said defensively, her tone firm and assertive. “Not a day went by that I didn't think about your sister.”

Before another argument could happen, Madison leaned over the table a little and raised a corner of the mouth. “The past doesn't matter. Things happened and we can't undo them. I'd just like to be with my family, I didn't want to cause any trouble.”

“You're not causing trouble, darlin'”, Jax assured her, leaning forward as well. “Where are you staying? I assume you don't have an apartment here yet, do you?”

“No, but I'll start looking for one tomorrow. I saw there's a motel nearby, I wanted to book a room there later”, she said.

“It's out of the question. You're staying here, of course”, Gemma intervened, after all she couldn't let her daughter sleep in a motel. “I'm having dinner at my house tonight, so you can get to know everyone. If you want, you can of course stay with me.”

“But you can also take my room, which is here in the clubhouse”, suggested Jax, after all he was at home every night anyway and this way she would have a place to crash.

“And I also have a room available. But I think you're better off with Gemma or here”, Nero winked friendly. While he wouldn't mind giving her a place to sleep, the young woman probably preferred something outside of a brothel.

A little overwhelmed with all the offers, she didn't know which one to accept. A warm feeling spread through her chest from all the support, but she didn't want to get on anyone's nerves either.

“Is it okay if I still think about it first?”, she asked sheepishly.

“Of course, think about it, sweetie”, Gemma nodded with a smile, patting her hand.

⸺

After grocery shopping with Gemma and bringing the things over to her house, she took a moment to look around the house. The house was designed a lot more lovingly than that of her parents and a feeling of melancholy came up at the thought of not having grown up here.

The pictures on the wall showed how happy and relaxed everyone seemed to be here and she really wished photos like this existed of her and Jesse⸺ but they didn't. Her and her brother only had forced holiday photos with Jesse in a suit and her in a fancy dress. Her parents' smiles were completely exaggerated while the siblings didn't even try to look happy and give their parents what they wanted.

Sighing, she rubbed her hands together and flinched when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Immediately the corners of her mouth lifted as her brother's name lit up on the screen.

“Hey Jesse. Sorry, I totally forgot to text you”, she burst out immediately after picking up the phone.

“Yo, I was worried Mads!” The concern was clearly audible in his voice, bringing another smile to the brunette's face. Jesse had been always the overprotective brother even though he was only two years older. “Have you talked your mom yet?”

“Sorry”, she mumbled apologetically, pacing up and down the long hallway. “Yeah, she seems really nice. Apparently I also have a brother and two nephews. And I'll get to know the rest later.”

“What rest? How big is that family?”, the voice on the other end of the line asked amused and she could almost picture Jesse scratching his head with a goofy grin on his face.

“To be honest I have no idea how many exactly. But apparently it's a motorcycle club family”, Madison explained, but she couldn't say more about them yet. “How are you, Jesse? You sound tired.”

For weeks she had noticed the tiredness in Jesse's voice and the exhaustion on his face worried her. Once again she felt guilty for leaving him alone in Albuquerque when they had always been an unbeatable team.

“Nah, I'm fine, Mads”, he said with fake hilarity. “Promise me you'll take care of yourself, okay? You don't even know these people yet, don't trust them too quickly.”

She shook her head with a sigh. Jesse lying  to her didn't ease her concern, but she knew he just didn't want her to feel guilty for leaving if he'd tell her the truth. Her biggest fear was that drugs were the problem again. It was no secret that Jesse liked to smoke Crystal when his thoughts got too loud or when he was just plain bored.

“Don't worry, I'll take care of myself. Besides, I'm the one hiding something from them”, she said, lowering her voice in case Gemma could hear.

“You can't tell them anything, Mads. Not unless you can be hundred percent sure you can trust them, yo”, Jesse panicked and Madison could hear rustling in the background. “Listen, I have to go. Promise me you won't get yourself in trouble!”

“Jesse chill! I won't tell anyone.” And as much as she wanted to tell someone else besides Jesse what she'd done, she knew her brother was right. “Okay, I'll call you again tomorrow. Take care.”

The end of the other line went dead and with a sigh she put her phone back in her jeans pocket before heading back downstairs to the kitchen to give Gemma a little help and find out a little more about her family.

Gemma hadn't brought in Old Lady's to help tonight so she could have some time to get to know Madison better. The nervousness had eased a bit now that Nero and Jax knew about the brunette. She knew Jax would be disappointed for a while, but she had to deal with that. She wasn't surprised by Nero's calm, relaxed reaction, she had expected that he would show understanding.

⸺

“Can you go to the door?”, Gemma asked while she was doing the last few things to make sure the table was set nicely.

“Yeah sure!” Madison rushed to the front door and was immediately greeted with a warm hug from Jax, who didn't seem to be a shy one at all. Shortly thereafter, she wrapped her arms around him and inhaled his scent.

She wished that she had met him sooner, but there was enough time for that now. After the two had separated from each other, he stepped aside so that the woman behind him could meet his sister.

“Mads, this is Tara, my Old Lady.” He proudly introduced his wife, who was holding a little boy in her arms and holding the hand of a slightly older boy, smiling friendly at her.

“Hey, it's nice to meet you. Jax already told me you're his sister.” She lowered her gaze and gently tugged at the boy's hand. “Introduce yourself, buddy. This is your auntie.”

Madison was absolutely delighted with the two little boys and crouched down so she was eye to eye with Abel. “Hey, I'm Mads. If you like, we can play something together later.”

Still a bit shy, Abel hid behind Tara's leg but smiled at the still unknown woman in front of him and nodded. “I've got a deck of cards and some coloring books in my backpack.”

“Oh that sounds good. But I'm sure you'll win, I'm bad at card games”, Madison joked to lighten the mood, which worked. Abel giggled at her comment.

“I'm sure you two will have a great time”, Jax smirked, taking another close look at the brunette as she got back to her feet. He still couldn't believe he actually had a sister and it annoyed him that he hadn't met her sooner. “By the way, the big one is Abel and the little man here is Thomas.”

“I'm sure of that too”, she laughed softly. “Dinner should be ready soon and Gemma is in the kitchen. It's nice you came.”

“I'll help her”, Tara said, handing Thomas over to Jax before looking back at Madison. “We can talk later, get to know each other.”

“Yeah, I'd like that”, the brunette nodded eagerly and looked after her brother's wife, who seemed quite nice. So far, she really hadn't had a single bad experience with anyone here.

Gradually, the rest came and the dining room filled with more and more bikers who looked quite intimidating but were absolutely polite and courteous. Since most of them had already heard who she was and who she belonged to earlier in the clubhouse, they asked many questions and Madison made sure to answer all of them.

⸺

authors note; this chapter might be a little boring but I promise there will be more conversations [especially between Happy and Mads] in the next one. 🖤