The Biker's Girls

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"Momma, momma," she kept crying. It was becoming a mantra.

"Ella Rose, stop it," Ryder warned. But I could tell from his face: he was crushed. His little girl was crying for her mom and she wasn't here.

I got off the seat, holding Ella to me, and cradled her. Her face instantly relaxed, her little arm circling me under my arm. I rocked her back and forth until she stopped crying. Slowly, her breathing calmed down and she fell asleep, her face nestled against my shoulder and chest. Her little fingers kept a tight grip on my shirt until little snores started.

I sat back down on the table, making sure I didn't shift her much. Ryder was looking down, head in hands. I sighed and tugged Ella closer.

"Ryder?" I whispered.

"Hm?" he didn't look up.

"What really happened to Maddie?" I asked, realizing that something wasn't adding up. If a two-year old was crying for her mother this much, she must've met her mother at one point or another, to know what she was missing. It didn't make sense that she would suddenly start to cry for her this way without having contact some time.

"You look just like her," Ryder admitted. I sat up, holding in a gasp.

"She left you?" I whispered again.

Ryder looked up, holding his head in his palms now, facing me. His stance was casual but I could tell he was tensed.

"When Ella turned six months. She was sick of my ways. Partying with the guys every other night. Never being there to help with the baby. I paid the bills but I didn't help around. In a way, it was best that she leave. It taught me a lot of things. It was like coming home with a newborn baby. I had to learn everything myself anyway. I was arrogant, and an asshole, to be frank, but I had a heart. And I couldn't just leave my baby girl alone with no one to take care of her.... El still basically woke up every night. At two and four, like clockwork," he added, with a smile. A bittersweet smile. "Slowly, without realizing it, Ella taught me a lot of things."

"And her parents?" I asked, meaning Maddie.

"We...we never got along. Ella wasn't exactly planned," he said, looking at his daughter with loving eyes. Whether she wasn't meant to be or not, nothing could deny the love this man felt for his daughter. "But she was never a mistake."

"I can tell. The way you look at her is enough to say that you obviously love her. She is your daughter, no matter how well planned she was."

He nodded. And looked up at me. "About five months ago, Maddie showed up again. I was going out to practice. Maddie was just standing outside the house, looking at it. I was stupid. I should've put Ella in her car seat first."

I kept quiet, waiting for him to tell me the rest.

"Maddie went crazy, asking to hold her, trying to grab her from me. I honestly can say I've never felt more panic than that. I've flown across air thousands of times, gotten so many injuries I've lost count. But I've never felt as much panic as I did when I thought that she would take my baby and run. I finally told her to leave. But not before she tried grabbing Ella one more time and told her she was Mommy. I threatened to call the police on her. Eventually, I got a restraining order. She'd already given up all the rights to Ella anyway."

I nodded, finally understanding something.

"Ella forgot about it after a little while. She cries every once in a while but it never turns into something this big. You just look so much like Maddie. It's weird. Your eyes are different though. Hers were gray," he said absentmindedly.