Page 26

I nodded. “They are surprisingly insistent about it, especially if it means they get to hang out with your boys more often. Charlie’s got a plan to make Logan his best friend.”

“Where would we live?” she asked, worrying her bottom lip. “I can’t see us squeezing three more boys in my house.”

“After we get married, we can sell our houses and buy something bigger. Or we can add an addition to your place or even build a bunk house in the back yard. Your yard is big enough to accommodate either option. I don’t care where we live as long as we’re together.”

“After we get married?” I asked, latching onto the first part of that explanation.

“Why do you look so surprised? We talked about this at Dave and Buster’s.”

She rolled her eyes. “No, you and the boys talked about it. I don’t recall you ever actually askin’ me to get married.”

“Do you want to get married?” I asked quickly, wanting to strike when the iron was hot.

“Well now, I don’t know.”

I could tell by the smirk on her face she was teasing me.

“Will it help if I get down on one knee?”

“Please don’t,” she laughed. “This is a big decision, you know. I mean, you’re getting’ quite a prize with me. It so happens I’m an incredible woman.”

“That you are, my love.”

“If we’re gonna do this, I’ve got some conditions,” she drawled.

“Such as?”

“I’m going to expect you to bring me coffee in the morning.”

“Every day,” I promised.

“And I enjoy having my own bathroom without hair in the sink and gross boy stuff everywhere.”

“I promise to keep the gross boy stuff to a minimum, and I’ll even promise to put the seat down every single time I pee.”

“And I’m not running’ a maid service. You and your kids are gonna be expected to do your share of the cooking’ and cleaning’, just like the rest of us.”

“We do that now, so it’s no problem,” I assured her.

She raised her eyebrows. “You offer an attractive package of benefits, I’ll give you that. It’s very tempting.”

“How about you accept my marriage proposal and then we’ll go over to the Hotel Six and I’ll offer you another attractive package.”

I looked meaningfully down towards my lap, and she laughed.

“Miss!” she called. “Can we get the check please?”

Epilogue – Lillian

New Year’s Eve...

“I don’t know, should I have bought a new dress or something? Is it bad luck to get married in a dress you already had in your closet?”

I tugged at the skirt of the sparkly silver dress I’d worn last year on New Year’s Eve. It was shocking how much had changed in one year. When Becky dragged me to that party last year, I never in a million years would have imagined falling in love with a guy and getting married.

Knowing that I was going to be a mom to six boys instead of three would have sent me away screaming. Even though the merging of our families had gone relatively smoothly, it wasn’t without conflict.

And noise. Sweet baby Jesus, there was so much noise.