“What do you mean?” Preacher asked carefully.
“I mean, are they keeping me? Is that where I live now?”
This was probably a conversation Knox should be having with Memphis, but he was otherwise occupied. “Do you want to stay at the farm?”
“Are you going to keep answering my questions with questions? It’s annoying.”
Preacher laughed. “Your brother and I were kind of hoping you’d want to come live with us.”
“So, you guys are an us now?” he asked, his tone too neutral for Preacher to guess whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
“Yeah, I guess we are. You could be, too. We’d really like you to be.”
“Are you going to marry him?”
Preacher looked over at Memphis. He looked pale, he had dark circles under his eyes, two days worth of scruff on his chin, his hair was greasy and sticking out from under his hoodie. “I really hope so. Would that be okay with you?”
Knox rolled his eyes. “I told him to marry you the day after you met.”
Preacher’s eyes went wide. “You did?”
“Yeah. Right after he told me he was gay.”
“Why did you think he should marry me?”
“I don’t know. At the time, I figured there weren’t a lot of gay dudes around, but now, I know they’re everywhere. Do you guys even know any straight people?”
Preacher barked out a surprised laugh, startling both the cops and Memphis. “I’m pretty sure I know a few. Maybe?”
“So, if I live with you and Memphis, can I keep Donatello?”
Preacher nodded. “Yeah, of course. He’s your puppy. He’s probably missing the shit out of you right now.”
“I just didn’t want Nash to hurt him and he would’ve. He would have used him to hurt me. I didn’t want that.”
God, Nash was such an incredible piece of shit. Preacher was relieved he was dead, that he wouldn’t be able to hurt Memphis or Knox ever again. “You’re a really brave kid. You know that?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Memphis wandered back over. “What’s going on over here?”
Knox gave Memphis a smug look. “Preacher’s going to marry you. Told ya so.”
Before Preacher could even respond, the boy was off like a shot, asking the officers if he could have some of their treats to feed the boys.
Memphis dropped down onto Preacher’s knee. “You’re going to marry me, huh?”
“Was thinking about it. It appears we have your brother’s blessing.”
“So, are you going to officially propose or is this it?” Memphis asked, looking around the train station. “I mean, I never imagined hearts and flowers, but I didn’t think they’d be scraping my brother off the train wheels if I ever got married.”
“Oof, that’s dark,” Preacher said. “No, this isn’t an official proposal, but if it was, would you say yes?”
Memphis leaned his cheek against Preacher’s forehead. “If it was—which it’s not because that would be incredibly tacky even for an ex-con and a trailer park kid—but if it was…when it is…a real proposal, I’ll say yes.”
Preacher grinned. “But not now.”
“No. Not now,” Memphis said, voice stern.
