“Okay.” It was a lot to swallow, but it made sense. “Gray. You said you have nine brothers and sisters?”
“Yes, Hermosa. I have three moms and one dad.” He closed his eyes. He was scared of my reaction.
“That’s definitely a new one for me. Did you know who your birth mother was?”
“Yes, but I called them all some version of Mom. They were all my parents, and like Wes and Arch, there was no shortage of love in our home.”
“My family is the hardest to swallow, Ellie,” said Wes.
“Lay it on me.”I took the news pretty stoically. It was definitely a whole new ballgame.
“I have four dads and two moms.” His blue eyes were wide and pleading. His face clearly begged me to accept him and not judge him.
“Okay. I’m sure I’ll have more questions about how it works, if you’re willing to share, but why are you three freaked out?” I understood their apprehension, and why they didn’t tell people about their backgrounds. They were scared.
“We’ve told few people about our families,” Arch said.
Wes took a deep breath. “I was in a pretty serious relationship about three years ago. We lived together, and I asked her to marry me. A month before the wedding, I broke down and told her about our parents. It started a rift and eventually broke us up.”
“Why in the world would your parents’ relationships have anything to do with your relationship with her?” It made no sense. They were in a monogamous relationship, unrelated to his parents. “That would be like blaming someone if their parents got divorced.”
“It was pretty messed up.” Arch ran his fingers through his short hair. It ended up going in thirteen different directions. He was cute when stressed.
Gray twirled his hair around his fingers. All three of them messed with their hair when upset. “With the exception of Penny, we’d told a few girlfriends along the way, and it ended badly. None of them handled it well. Penny knew all along.”
“We learned early to hide it from friends. Eventually, we stopped trying to make close friends outside of the three of us. Our partners at the firm don’t even know about our family dynamics.” Wes ran his fingers through his hair as well, making it frizz a little.
“I know you lived in the south, but it seems like people wouldn’t hold your parents’ decisions against you.” I hoped we’d progressed beyond that level of judgment.
“It wasn’t the south.” Wes’s voice was dejected. “Back then, if we took a vacation and anyone figured out what sort of relationship our parents were in, they gave dirty looks, said rude things under their breath, and sometimes got a little physical. It happened wherever we went.”
My heart hurt for them. They were children and had to learn how cruel the world could be. “I’m sorry you experienced the worst in people so early in life.”
“Yeah, well… With all that in mind, how do you feel about dating us?” Arch’s voice was so soft I could barely hear him.
“It doesn’t change anything. If and who I date, it won’t matter what sort of relationship your parents are in.” I contemplated the three men who turned my life upside down. They helped me find confidence in myself and believe I could run a multi-million dollar company. I felt beautiful, inside and out, every time I was around them.
They couldn’t have appeared more different, yet they were brothers, in every sense of the word except biological. I studied Arch with his mussed hair, hazel eyes, and overprotective nature. He was miserable behind his pronounced five o’clock shadow. He watched me stare at him. His eyes implored me, but I didn’t know the question. I wouldn’t reject them, not as a whole, but at some point, I’d be forced to choose.
I moved my gaze to Gray. Romantic, sensual Gray. He held a strand of his long hair in front of his face, studying the ends. He caught me staring at him and met my gaze with a challenge. His light brown eyes, like cognac, were scared, even as his whiskered chin lifted in defiance.
Wes was the last to get my scrutiny. He stared at the floor, his shaggy hair mostly blocking his face as it hung down around him. His shoulders slumped. I was pretty sure he already admitted defeat. He figured I’d reject them based on their parents’ decisions.
The idea of the three of them walking out of my apartment and never coming back made my chest ache. Tears sprang to my eyes. “Stop looking sad,” I demanded.
Wes’s face came up, surprise written all over it. “What do you mean?”
“Our problem isn’t me accepting your family. I accept them. They aren’t you. Our problem is you all have feelings for me, don’t you?” Three nods. “I have feelings for all three of you. What’re we supposed to do? I don’t think I can choose one of you! And if I did, what would it do to the other two of you?” My heart was torn. I couldn’t come up with one thing to elevate one above another and make the decision easier.
“We hoped you’d come to this on your own, but we want you to be in a relationship with us.” Arch turned those pleading eyes on me.
I stared at them blankly. “I know. That’s what we’ve been talking about.” My mind went a little fuzzy. I tried to understand what they meant, but I couldn’t process it.
Gray took my hand and turned it palm up. He traced the lines as he spoke. “Hermosa,wewant to date you. Us.” He pointed to himself, then Arch and Wes. “All of us. Dating you.”
Blinking repeatedly, my brain finally connected. Lightning exploded through my eyes, relief flooded my belly. Warmth spread across my heart, and my chest stopped hurting. The stress I carried since I realized I had feelings for all three of them evaporated. I finally understood what people meant when they said a weight lifted off their shoulders.
I realized I hadn’t spoken for several long seconds. Their expressions turned to bitter disappointment while I contemplated how amazing it could be to date all three of them. “No! No sadness! This is fantastic!” I threw my arms out, light as a feather. My company would be mine, and my guys would, too!
