“Fantastic?” Hope blossomed on Arch’s face. Wes gripped the edge of the coffee table. Gray tugged on a chunk of his hair. “You’re happy about it?”
“Yes! Oh, sure, there will be issues. Jealousy, timing, families—I mean, where do we go for holidays? Do your families holiday together? Who sleeps where? Ugh, jealousy. But, for now, it doesn’t matter.” Even though they’d grown up in unconventional families, they’d never been in a relationship like their parents before. There were bound to be speed bumps in the road.
“Logistics like those kind of work themselves out.” Wes grinned his breathtaking smile at me, pearly teeth flashing.
“We did learn a thing or two from our parents’ mistakes, too,” said Arch.
“And I’m sure they’ll be able to give us advice,” added Gray.
“I don’t want to discuss big stuff yet. No kids talk, or marriage talk, or anything like that. We’re getting to know each other.” The heavy stuff could wait. We were still young. We had time to get to know one another.
“Are we going to do this? You’re going to beourgirlfriend?” Gray practically vibrated with excitement.
“I am. I’d be honored to be your girlfriend.” I tried to take in all of them at once. With huge smiles pasted on their faces, they all lunged at me. Soon I had three muscular men piled on me. “Uncle! Uncle! I give!” They hugged, kissed my cheeks, and tickled me into submission. “You win!”
One by one they climbed off the couch, kissing my cheeks as they passed. I wanted to jump up and down, excited about the prospect of our future together. I got to keep all three of the men I’d grown to care for. It could be difficult, but if it continued being as rewarding as the past month had been, it would be worth every second spent together.
Epilogue
Ellie stared across the auditorium at her husbands-to-be. They turned their gazes toward her, music filling the air. Her best friend, Todd, stood just before her, ready to walk her down the aisle. “Oh, God, Ell. They look like sin in suits standing up there.”
She smiled at her lifelong best friend. “Thank you, Todd.”
“For what, duckie?” Todd gave her hand a squeeze.
“For being with me. For being my family, my best friend. My matron of honor.” Ellie sniggered. “Man of honor?”
Todd chuckled. “I prefer BrosMaid.” He stuck his nose in the air. “BrosMatron? BridesBro. Oh, whatever. You’re my family, Ellie. It’s you and me against the world. Let’s go get you married to your wet dreams.” As her oldest friend and chosen family, Todd clasped Ellie’s arm and turned to walk her down the aisle.
Thanks to Todd’s wit, Ellie forgot her butterflies and stepped into the aisle with laughter in her throat, but her mirth died while she glided toward the men she loved. They watched her advance with predatory gleams in their eyes, a promise of the wedding night to come. She was about to be handed over to the care of her three loves when Todd leaned in. “I’ve got it. BridesQueen.” Ellie held in her laugh but couldn’t stop a snort. Arch, Wes, and Gray watched her compose herself, amused, and the seriousness of the moment calmed her emotions—somewhat.
The guests watched their friends marry in scandalized glee. The wedding was in ceremony only, as polygamy was still illegal in the US, but the newlyweds didn’t care. They relished the chance to show their love to the world and hoped to help create some normalcy for so-called alternative lifestyles.
One by one, Ellie exchanged vows with Arch, Wes, and Gray. “I promise to keep our family and our interests number one in my life. I promise to love you and hold you in my heart, until the day I die. I promise to sit down with you when we are mad and figure out how to fix whatever the problem is. I promise to honor your wishes and consider them in any major decisions I make. I promise to always stay in contact with you and not make you worry. I promise to bring fire to your life so that we never get bored. I do not promise to obey, because that’s just creepy.”
The attendants tittered with laughter as Ellie gave Arch a soft kiss.
Turning to Gray, she continued. She repeated the first part of her vows, promises to each of her husbands, to keep their family first in her heart. She ended with, “I promise to do everything I can to stay out of a hospital, so that you do not have to set foot in one. And I promise to never try to outdo your mama’s cooking. I will sing with you and read bad comic books. For all my life, I will be yours.”
A strangled sob, or maybe it was laughter, came from the audience, and Gray’s biological mother, Rosa, hair streaked with silver, dabbed her eyes. Gray looked at his parents, love and concern written on his face. His three mothers sat with a silver-bearded man. The women clasped hands, and Rosa nodded to Gray so the ceremony could continue.
Ellie gave Gray a soft kiss and faced Wes. After her promises, Ellie concluded her vows with, “My genius surfer dude. I promise to read with you and pick books to publish with you. I promise to work out with you, even though I’ll hate every single second of it, but I know how much you want me to be healthy. I promise to cook for you and I look forward to many meals prepared by you.” After giving Wes a kiss, Ellie stood back and braced herself to fight tears while her men spoke their vows to her.
Arch spoke next. “Ellie, we wrote our vows together. We started to do them separately but when we compared notes we realized we were stepping on each other’s toes.”
Ellie’s heart swelled. “I think that’s appropriate.”
Wes continued, “Cynthia Eleanor Asche, we promise, first and foremost, to be continuously aware of our jealousy levels. We promise to talk to you and each other if we begin to feel the little green monster rear up.”
“The day you walked into our lives was the day the world settled into place for all of us,” said Gray. “We didn’t know it right away, but you were the missing puzzle piece. We won’t be so corny as to say you completed us, but you certainly brought a funny, quirky dynamic personality into our lives that none of us ever want to be without.”
“We want to grow old with you. We want to spoil grandbabies and argue over the best way to irritate our kids,” said Wes.
Arch chuckled before speaking his part. “We want to become so familiar with you that you always finish our…” He paused and looked at Ellie with raised eyebrows. “Always finish our…”
Ellie gave them a bewildered stare.
“Sentences, Ellie. We want to be close enough that you always finish our sentences.”
