My chest tightens as I pull a sweatshirt over my head. It’s been a few months since he had one of those night terrors. He’s been so much better since he and Brent moved in with me. I thought that he’d finally shrugged himself from the ugly grips of the disorder. I thought that we’d beat it. But PTSD isn’t something that ever really goes away.
It’s managed. It’s dealt with.
It weaves and wanes and sometimes it fades until you can barely see the stains but it’s always there.
I hate feeling so powerless. I hate that it’s something that I can’t fix. All I can do is support him, throw my arms around him. And that’s what I’m going to do right now.
I tiptoe past Brent’s room and down the stairs. I step into Leo’s big shoes on the mat and slide the back door open.
There he is.
His shoulders are as wide as ever. I can’t help but admire his powerful body as I approach him from behind. He glances up at me over his back and grins.
“Hey.” I lower myself to the spot beside him and run my hand across his back.
“Hey.” He stretches his hand out to me, offering me a sip from his juice box. Long gone are the days of drinking whiskey from a red plastic cup. Apple-grape fruit punch is his drink of choice these days.
I giggle, leaning in to suck on the plastic straw.
Lust and adoration fill his eyes as he watches me drink. “What are you doing out here?” I ask softly as I run my hand tenderly over his knee. “Nightmares?” It’s fall now. It’s cold. I wish he wouldn’t sit out here.
He looks up at the sky and smiles on a deep exhale. “Not nightmares. Good dreams. Happy ones.”
Pleasantly surprised by his answer, my lips inch up, too. “About what?” I lean my head on his shoulder and his arm comes around me.
“About us. About our family and what’s next for us.”
“Really?”
He nods and kisses my forehead. “Really.”
My heart does all kinds of twists and flips in my chest. I’m so in love with Leo and Brent and the life we have together and the thought of what the future holds tickles the pit of my stomach.
I look down at his hand and realize that he’s flipping something around between his fingers. Before I can make out what it is, Leo angles himself toward me and pushes me back softly by the shoulders. “Is it crazy that I want to marry you, Reese? I mean, I really want to marry you. Now.”
My breath gets caught in my throat and my pulse goes erratic. We’ve talked about marriage and babies. Only in vague terms. This is the first time he’s mentioned it in a direct way. That look of determination in his eyes is nerve-wracking. My heart feels like it’ll pound right out of my chest.
He sinks to the bottom step, stooping on one knee. The diamond on the thin band between his fingers catches the moonlight and glimmers. “I was gonna wait to ask you…Y’know, so Brent and your family could be here to witness it…But I don’t wanna wait any more. Marry me, Reese. Be my wife. Please. I don’t deserve you. But I want you. Forever.”
“Oh my god, Leo.” Tears spill readily down my cheeks. “I want you to be my husband. Yes, I’ll marry you.”
His giddy smile is brighter than all the stars in the sky. He does a corny fist pump that makes me laugh. “Yes!” He grabs my left hand and slips the ring on. It fits like it was made just for me. It’s beautiful. Perfect.
Orgasm Man. My very own superhero. My lover. My best friend.
I grab his fingers and lift his hand to my mouth. I press my lips to the skin grafts on his knuckles. The burns and scars he got while he was saving my life.
“I love you, Leo. I won’t ever stop.”
“I love you, too, Cupcake Girl. Forever isn’t nearly enough for us.”
Epilogue
Leo
Two years later…
“Can you believe it’s been two years?” Reese smiles across the counter at me with her coffee cup clenched between her hands.
Even after another sleepless night of breastfeeding and rocking our twins, she still looks radiant in the morning light peeking through the sheer kitchen curtains.
"The two best years of my life." I come around the counter and kiss her forehead.
"Including last night when the twins were howling in unison like wild animals calling out to each other?" She sets her elbows on the counter and drops her head as a long yawn pours out of her mouth.
I laugh then run my hands over her shoulders. "Even then.”
Yes, the midnight diaper changes are tolerable—pleasant even—because I do them with my best friend by my side. We're solid. I've never felt more steady in my life. I may look like a big, tough guy on the outside but I don't stand on my own. Reese is my superhero, my Cupcake Girl. Her love saves my life every day.
It’s funny—when my marriage to Mara ended, I though the world was crashing down but now, I don't regret the way things ended with her. It was rough on Brenton and me for a little while but as soon as I allowed Reese into our lives, she made it all better.
And Mara got what was coming to her. Apparently, the man she left me for lied to her about his source of income. He made his fortune dealing in the black market. Word is that the both of them got picked up by the police somewhere in Central America and are awaiting trial for organ trading. It's been a rough two years for Mara and her one remaining kidney. So much for her jet-set lifestyle. I hear those Guatemalan prisons are real glamorous.
Anyway, she’s not my problem anymore.
The people I care most about—my wife and three kids—reside under this roof in a sleepy little Illinois town called Copper Heights.
Reese's head snaps up at the sound of the doorbell and she casts a narrow-eyed stare my way. "It's not even 8:00 in the morning yet," she hisses as she slams down her coffee cup. She marches toward the door, her heavy footsteps conveying her fury. "I swear to god, if it's that vacuum salesman again—"
I stand at the other end of the hall, smirking as she tears the front door open and an enormous flower bouquet fills the entrance. "Delivery for Reese Montgomery?” The delivery guy totters under the weight of the thing.
Her head snaps in my direction. "Baby..."
I just grin.
She accepts the delivery and lugs it into the kitchen. "Hmm...I wonder who it's from?" I ask innocently, smiling into her coffee mug and taking a long sip.
She’s teary-eyed when she sets it down and slaps me on the chest. "Stop joking around. You have me crying my eyes out."
"I'm romantic, huh?" I chuckle.
"Yes, you are." She wraps her arms around me and presses her cheek to my back.
"You're my inspiration, babe." I spin around and hold her to me.
"Well, I'm feeling very, very grateful...if you know what I mean." She cups my semi-hard cock. A rush of blood heads to that region.
"I'll take you upstairs so you can show me,” I propose.
She yelps when I pick her up and toss her over my shoulder like a cement bag. "Oh my gosh. You're just a neanderthal masquerading as a gentleman, aren't you?"
I laugh. "Don't let the flowers and soft focus light fool you, baby. I'm gonna fuck the shit out of you."
"You have a dirty mouth on you!”
"Yeah, you're a lucky, lucky girl. How about we go take care of business before the babies wake up?" I slap her butt as I tromp toward the stairs.
"Good idea." She giggles contentedly.
"Oh, I'm full of good ideas. But falling in love with you is the best idea I've ever had."
And after that, we—y’know—lived happily ever after.
Leo and Reese’s Wedding Epilogue
Reese
Vivian bursts into the room, causing me to jolt in the makeup chair where I'm seated. My left eye narrowly misses a nasty collision with the tip of Nova's mascara wand.
My sister doesn't register that, though. "Okay, we have a major problem," Vivian announces, her panicked voice rising above the mellow sound of the harp strings as her hands sweep manicall
y through the air in front of her reddened face. "The florist completely brought the wrong shade of roses. I specifically ordered blush pink and ivory dusk. And a truckload of salmon pink and muted strawberry just showed up at the reception hall." Her narrow chest heaves. "I don't know how this is supposed to work. Those shades completely go against the color scheme of the table settings and they don't match the bridesmaids' headbands and I just don't know—"
I roll my palm across my tiny baby bump, trying to soothe the butterflies that are flapping in the face of my itty bitty fetus. "Viv, calm down!" My eyes fall on her frantic reflection in the mirror. "I'm sure that musky salmon will be beautiful on the dinner tables."
She marches across the church's stuffy dressing room and plants herself in front of the dresser where all the makeup and bobby pins and hair accessories are scattered. "It's salmon pink and muted strawberry," she corrects me, folding her arms over her own little baby bump. "Mixing the two shades with the off-white lace tablecloths is a huge decor faux-pas. Especially this season."
As my eyes are pivoting toward the ceiling, I catch Nova mid-eyeroll. She looks as irritated as I feel.
Yup, Vivian has turned into maid-of-honor-zilla. And I can't say that I'm surprised. My sister has come a long way since she fell “head over heels for Clinton Alvarez but she's still got the perfectionist gene and it rears its ugly head in stressful situations. I try to scoot around a bit in my chair to make eye contact and calm her the hell down. Again, I nearly lose an eye in the process.
"Stay still!" Nova scolds sternly, palming the back of my head with a firm hand to make sure that I can't move. I hold my breath and try not to squint as she comes at me with a row of sticky false eyelashes pinched in the tip of her tweezers. She lays the little hairs on my lash line with the precision of a brain surgeon and clamps them down with the tweezers.
Without moving my head, I spin my gaze up at my sister, staring at her from under my foot-long lash extensions. She looks just a little bit like a maniac with a set of colorful, oversized hair rollers covering her head and feathery bedroom slippers covering her feet. Her petal pink robe hangs open over her matching satin slip.
“Did I say petal pink? I mean, muted strawberry...or maybe ivory dusk. Who knows...Apparently the distinction is important.
"Viv, iss okay. I doh care about the coloh of the fowers." Articulating my words is a bit of a feat considering that Nova is applying my lipstick now. The look she's giving me tells me loud and clear that I won't make it to the altar alive if I cause her to mess up my perfect nude lip.
"Reese, this is important," my sister tells me, her shoulders slumping and her words heavy with defeat. "It's your wedding day. It has to be perfect."
I focus my gaze on my wedding dress--a one-shouldered Grecian-style gown draped to obscure my pregnancy--and my lips twist up into a smile. "As long as Leo is standing at the end of that altar, waiting for me, it will be perfect. It doesn't matter if I'm wearing a bathrobe or if the flowers are made of newspaper. As long as that man is there waiting for me..." My words trail off and a tear collects on the rim of my eye.
"No, no, no!" Nova shrieks. She hurriedly balls up a wad of tissues and works on carefully soaking up the moisture.
I flinch. "Sorry," I chuckle as she pins me with a look.
Right then, the door opens again and my mother shuffles inside, clinging tightly to Sophia's arm.
Today is one of Mom's good days, luckily. The symptoms of her multiple sclerosis are under control. Or at least, she's doing a decent job of pretending that they are. She clears her throat, steal all attention her way. "Vivian, what's important today is that Reese is happy, that Leo is happy. And that their family and friends are here to support and bless them. Today is about love. It's about making a commitment. It's about promising to be there for each other in the good times and the bad."
Mom's words strike hard. Everyone feels it. Sophia shudders roughly. Nova's hands fall away from my face and she forgets all about her primping as she absorbs the impact of the motherly wisdom. That's something my mom is stellar at--putting things into perspective. Even after all the pain she's been through, she still finds the moral in every story, the silver lining in every cloud.
I rise out of my seat to meet her halfway across the room. Our hands clasp together and she draws tender circles on my knuckles. "I wake up every day with your father staring down on me, holding my hand. He's there doing everything in his power to ease the pain, to make me smile, to make this life a little happier. When we married 30-something years ago, we never envisioned that things would end up like this. That he'd be the one who'd end up taking care of me. But we meant the vows we took. Our love is as real today as it was on our wedding day. That's what matters." My sister swallows visibly, her eyes growing wet with emotion. Mom turns and grabs Vivian's hand as well. "I don't remember the exact shade of pink that the flowers were. But I do remember the look in my husband's eyes when I stepped up on that altar with him. That day was about love. Today is about love. Everything else is secondary."
The three of us collapse into a hug, squeezing each other for a long time. It feels like the sheer immensity of the day is finally beginning to sink in.
I'm getting married.
I'm getting married.
I found a man who loves me like crazy, who loves me like I love him and we had the crazy idea of spending forever together. In many ways, Leo Montgomery is the most unlikely of partners for me. He's a single dad, he's a divorcé, he's a war veteran. But for those very same reasons, he needs me. And I need him. And after we say our vows, we'll officially be a family.
Over my mother's shoulder, my eyes meet with Nova and she gives me a deadly but silent warning as she wipes away her own tears. Don't you dare cry all over that makeup.
Hypocrite!
“Smiling, I bury my face in my mother's shoulder to hide my tears. I hear my sister's quiet whisper. "They were yellow."
"What was yellow?" Mom asks.
"Your wedding flowers were yellow. Daffodils and craspedias, if I'm not mistaken. I've studied your wedding photos."
I can almost hear my mother roll her eyes. "Vivian--shut up and enjoy the damn moment, will ya?”
At that, the three of us laugh.
Leo
I slick my hands down the front of my tux, then brush back my hair with my palm before clearing my throat and tugging my bow tie away from the boulder lodged painfully in my windpipe. I feel eyes on the side of my face and when I glance at Charlie, he gives me a nasty scowl.
"What?" I whisper anxiously. "D'you know something I don't know? Did she say something? Tell me what she said." The words rush out of my mouth.
His frown only deepens. "Dude--get yourself together. You look like you're waiting for the lethal injection." He angles his broad body, turning his back to the congregation of the packed chapel and lowering his voice. "You aren't having second thoughts, are you?"
I spit up a laugh. "Second thoughts? Man, are you crazy?" I've never been more certain of anything. I love Reese. I want to marry her. But I can't help the ball of dread that's taken up residence in the hollow of my gut. "I just want her to get her fine ass down here so I can marry her. “Toss her over my shoulder and run out of here before she comes to her senses and changes her mind."
The girl's out of my league. I know that. She's insanely beautiful. Generous. Funny. Kind. She must be in a trance agreeing to be with me. I don't want her to ever snap out of it.
My best man chuckles. "I know damn well that my little sister's too good for you. But you lucked out. So take a fucking breath and chill out." He gives me a discreet but powerful elbow to the ribs. "You're hyperventilating. Don't make me break out the brown paper bag.”
“He returns to his place on the altar, a few feet off to the side and gives me a huge damn smile. When Charlie found out that I had fallen in love with his sister, he wasn't too happy about it. But I literally saved her from a burning building. That's how he knew for sure that I was serious a
bout her. Reese Hartley is one of the two best things that's ever happened to me.
My eyes move to the front pew where my other favorite person in the world is sitting. Brent is with Rachel, giving her googly eyes as she fusses over her little brother, Sonny, trying to get him to sit still. The happy preschool couple have announced that they're getting married. Luckily, they've decided to postpone their nuptials at the moment so as not to distract from my marriage to Reese.
Very thoughtful of them.
My son has been adapting so well to life in Copper Heights. When we first moved here, I was afraid that he wouldn't be able to adjust, that he'd be longing for his mother, that he'd blame me for keeping him away from her. But he's fallen smoothly into our new life. Most of that is because of Reese. She's embraced him as her own, given him more love than his biological mother ever did.
And now, she's carrying my baby. Just when I thought she'd run out of ways to make me happy, she told me that she was giving me a child. The woman never ceases to amaze me.
I'm just a little worried about how Brenton will take the news. We haven't told him about the baby yet. I don't want him to be jealous or afraid that we won't love him anymore. It was Reese's idea to wait until after the wedding to tell him, so that he'd be secure in the knowledge that we're a real family.
A real family. Finally, a real family.
Right then, the minister steps up to the front of the room. Nova sneaks into the chapel, her long floral dress swooshing around her, and she throws Charlie a cheeky wink. I swear I hear him growl after her as she ushers the little flower girls and page boys out the door for the procession.
And I lose my breath when, just past the arched doorway, I get a glimpse of satin and white lace.
Reese
My heart is beating so fast I might just pass out.
The man standing at the other end of the aisle is pure rugged perfection. Leo Montgomery. Looking better than David Beckham on his way to the Royal Wedding. Until this moment, I didn't even realize that such a thing was humanly possible. In a black satin tux perfectly tailored to the long, trim lines of his body. With the bristly stubble on his chin and his dark blond hair brushed back off of his forehead.
The Blue Collar Bachelors Box Set: The Complete Blue Collar Bachelors Series Page 22