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"My funny valentine, sweet comic valentine. You make me smile with my heart. Your looks are laughable. Unphotographable. Yet you're my favourite work of art.”
Tara was at home with her brand new baby girl and the boys were in school. Eva was objectively one of the most beautiful baby girls anyone had seen in a long time. Actually, the last time was when Tara was born, according to Gemma when Jax allowed her to see their baby girl for the first time.
Tara’s mom and Gemma had been good friends. Actually, best friends. When Gemma returned to Charming with John Teller and Jackson in tow, they reconnected and raised their babies together. She promised Tara’s mother, Demi, that she would watch over Tara when she died from cancer when Tara was nine.
Gemma tried. Thomas got sick and John ran off to Ireland. She was bitter about losing her best friend, Thomas, and her husband. She found comfort in Clay and threw any and all energy into Jax. Tara was left by the wayside to deal with her alcoholic father who had no use for a girl. He told her that she was there for cleaning, cooking, and being seen and not heard.
Piney Winston lived next door and made sure she had food and clothes. Mary wasn’t exactly motherly even towards her own son but was kinder to Tara than Gemma at that point. She taught her how to grocery shop, cook, clean, and basic sewing.
Tara would stay home long enough to have dinner ready for her dad, clean, and then go back to the Winston’s. She would then help Opie with his homework and hang out with him watching TV or riding bikes. He called her his sister and was vehemently protective of her.
Piney was her surrogate dad, and while he wasn’t exactly Ward Cleaver, at least he gave a shit. When Tara returned with a bruise on her face after burning dinner, Piney laid her dad’s sorry ass out so bad that he almost didn’t make it. He never laid a finger on Tara again.
The only place Piney wouldn’t take Tara was anywhere associated with SAMCRO. He didn’t want his adopted little girl exposed to that side of their life. She was too good for that. She was too smart and pretty to go down that path. She was bound for bigger and better things than being a Croweater or Old Lady.
When Opie hit about eleven years old, he decided it wasn’t cool hanging out with his surrogate sister and took off with his best friend Jax Teller. Tara didn’t know Jax very well because Piney would send her to learn cooking and cleaning with Mary when he showed up.
It was his way of keeping her even farther away from that side of his life. He also hated that Gemma effectively abandoned the girl when Demi died and she didn’t need to know how Gemma was already painting her as the town drunk’s daughter to Jax and anyone else who would listen.
Gemma knew to stay away from Piney exactly because he called her out on her shit at the clubhouse one night when she was holding court with some Croweaters after Church. She said something snarky about the Winston’s taking in Little Orphan Annie/Tara, the town basket case.
Piney never understood Gemma’ antipathy towards the girl. ”Well, you sure as shit didn’t keep your word to Demi, so some of us stepped up and are doing the right thing.” Clay knew better than to piss off Piney on this subject and shut down Gemma on the topic of Tara for the time being.
Jax Teller was impossibly good looking from the day he was born. Then he hit puberty and he went from good looking to drop your panties gorgeous. Girls acted stupid over him and the Croweaters couldn’t wait to get their claws in him. Growing up around the machismo of SAMCRO and Gemma’s constant doting only served to feed his ego.
Gemma carefully curated which girls were up to her standards for her only living son. Jax just enjoyed the endless supply of girls and Croweaters that were ready and willing to put out for the Prince of Charming. By the time he was 16, he knew that the best girls were all about sucking dicks and serving beer.
Tara was two years younger and was a mousy tomboy. When Opie decided hanging around with his de facto little sister wasn’t cool anymore, she was left to her own devices. She mostly went to the library or stayed in the spare bedroom that she pretty much lived in now.
Being the town drunk’s daughter meant no slumber parties, Friday night football games, hanging out at the movie theater on Saturday, or birthdays invitations made it to her desk at school. By middle school, when the other girls went to dances and talked endlessly about which guys were the cutest, she was in the library trying to make sure that she kept her grades up because she knew that scholarships were her only hope for college and her ticket out of town.
The Home Economics Department at Charming High School decided to run a contest for Homecoming. The theme was 1950’s dresses and the winner would get a 10,000 scholarship. Tara had been doing the sewing lessons with Mary and she asked her to help make a dress. Mary knew this would be a good thing for Tara. She was 14 and hid any hint of a body under baggy shirts, flannels, and jeans. Tara didn’t care about the dance, she just wanted the money for school.
Opie knew Tara was low to nonexistent on the social ladder at school. Guys never even mentioned her when the topic of hot girls came up mostly because she was a wallflower and didn’t try to look cute. She purposely avoided the cafeteria because the girl cliques made fun of her baggy clothes and flat hair. She didn’t give a shit because they were all Croweaters in training and boring as hell to talk to based on their vapid non-stop swooning over Jax Teller.
Opie didn’t want her going to her first Homecoming dance by herself so he had Lowell Harland, Jr ask her. Tara knew he was a nice guy and sorta cute. Lowell was an easygoing guy who Opie knew would be a good guy to her. Piney was not thrilled because it would be Tara, Lowell, Opie and Donna, and Jax with his latest hookup. Currently that was Wendy Case, who was known for putting out and that’s all Jax cared about.
Mary talked him into it and promised the dress she was going to wear wouldn’t be trampy. Piney grudgingly agreed but said he reserved the right to make the final decision if Tara went or not.
Gemma was throwing a party for the kids at the clubhouse after the dance and had made sure the Croweaters were at least half-dressed and the guys would keep it PG-13 because she liked that Wendy fit right in with the SAMCRO crowd. She could groom her to be an Old Lady that was ok with the infidelity and she followed Gemma’s cues to to a tee.
Gemma loved the theme of the 1950’s and had all hands on deck to make sure they would have the clubhouse decked out for the after party. She helped Wendy find the perfect tight-fitting dress and did her makeup and hair.
As the group gathered at Opie’s, Mary was putting the final touches on Tara’s dress. All Jax wanted to do was smoke a joint, get to the dance, and get Wendy out of the dress his mom made sure was easy to peel off.
He only agreed to this because Gemma got all girly about it with Wendy. Now that he thought about it, Wendy was getting a little too clingy so he might just break it off soon.
As soon as he gets laid, that is.
“What the hell is taking so long? She can’t be that difficult to dress, she wears jeans and flannel, even in the summer.”
Opie shot him a glare. “Hey asshole, this is her first dance and you better not go ruining it for her with your ignorant shit about her being a flat-chested tomboy. I will split you in half if you say anything remotely rude to her.”
Just then Tara came out and the Earth stood still for everyone in the room, Wendy included.
Tara looked nervous. She hadn’t worn a dress since her mom’s funeral and felt awkward with everyone staring at her.
“Is it ok?”
Lowell looked like he won the lottery, Opie couldn’t believe this was Tara, Wendy looked like she could spit nails, and Jax thought for the first time in his life that he might believe in love at first sight. Or first sight of Little Tara as not so little anymore. Any thoughts of Wendy went out the window. Shit, he can’t push up on Tara. Opie and Piney would kill him and fucking Lowell looked like the cat that swallowed the canary.
Piney had agreed to let Tara go to the SAMCRO party as long as he was there. He knew he had to be there now because he had to see the look on Gemma Teller-Morrow’s face. He told Mary to get dressed up because they had a date tonight.
He wanted her to be there to see Gemma’s face too.