Small Town Hero

Chapter 43

Jax could see how distracted Happy was and wondered what was going on with his brother. Upon asking, Happy just told him it was some personal business making Jax nod and back away from him. Everyone knew better than to pry into Happy's personal life when he didn't want to talk about it. Juice and Tig left to take care of a repo leaving Bobby, Clay, Jax, Chibs, and Happy work in the garage. Juice asked Tig about Happy's odd behavior making Tig laugh. "You wanna ask him what's wrong, go ahead! I'm not." Tig retorted making Juice sigh.

Noelle was in an exceptionally good mood all day. Even her manager had noticed the change in mood and how much better she was at job compared to the past week. She was never bad at her job it just wasn't up to her usual standards. He could tell there was something heavy on her mind but she didn't want to tell him what was going on. She went out to lunch with some of her co-workers and tried to eat better than what she normally chose. After all, she was now eating for two and didn't want to gain too much baby weight. One customer that afternoon told Noelle what a glow she had making the young woman blush.

Happy called his mother during his lunch break to tell her the news. He didn't care if Noelle told his brothers, he wanted to be the one to tell his ma. She squealed over the phone excitedly and congratulated him before asking him to bring her back up so they could visit again. He laughed and promised he'd bring Noelle back up to see her the first chance they got. They chatted a while before his lunch break was over and he had to get back to work. Chibs had overheard the conversation with his mother but didn't want to say anything. Despite the hard man they knew as their assassin, Chibs could hear the excitement in Happy's voice as he told his mother they were going to have a baby.

It brought some relief to the Scot that he was excitedfor their first child. He'd been worried about how the killer was going toreact to the news. He couldn't wait for them to come out and tell everyone theywere having a child. Hoping it was soon, he wasn't sure he'd be able to hold itin if they waited too long. Chibs wanted to say something to encourage thedad-to-be, to offer his support and guidance if necessary. He sat on the picnictable and watched as Happy got back to work without a word to anyone.

She arrived home before he did. Clay had called church due to a threat that had suddenly popped up with the club. He wanted to figure out how they should go about dealing with this new threat. After an hour-long discussion, it was decided they'd go on lockdown that night. Everyone needed to call their loved ones and get to the clubhouse immediately. Clay had Tig escort Gemma to the grocery store to stock up on groceries for the lockdown. Happy called Noelle as she sprawled out on the couch.

"Hey baby!" She cheerfully stated.

"We're going on lockdown. I need you here ASAP." Happy said.

"Oh. Ok. I'll pack a bag and be on my way." She replied without asking what was going on.

She never wanted to know what was going on. Although seeing him come home covered in blood, hands tore up, scratches and lacerations over him, she never asked questions.

"I'll see you soon. Be careful." He told her.

She was already walking down the hall to grab her duffle bag. As hastily as she could, she threw some clothes into then dug in his drawers to get him some clothes as well. Her next stop was the bathroom to grab their bathroom essentials and tossed them into the bag. Looking around, she picked up their phone chargers and tossed them into the bag. Thinking she had everything, she zipped up the bag and made her way to the front door. She locked it and quickly walked to her car. The ride didn't take that long as she sung along to the songs on the radio. She parked and grabbed her bag. The bag containing her camera and accessories was still sitting on the passenger seat from work.