by G. Bailey
“Why not? It’s called Polyandry, and it’s practised a lot more than people talk about,” Flynn says, and she still shakes her head.
“At the end of the day, it’s up to Elsie, and I don’t mean to be rude when I say this, but you don’t have the best relationship with her,”
“No, I don’t. I’ve not been a great mum. I let my life distract me from my daughter until it was too late.”
“Then, perhaps a good way to move past that, is to accept her new life. I don’t know if she is going to say yes to us, but maybe you should call her and be honest. I have a feeling she wants her mum in her life,” I tell her, and she nods looking down at the ground.
“I need some time to come to terms with this, but I suspect you’re right,” she says and walks out, shutting the door behind her.
“So, time to plan and get our Elsie,” Flynn says, standing up with a grin. He walks to the laptop in the room and turns it on. We spend the next few hours sorting out our business and planning a big move to London. When we are done, we go downstairs and find our dad in the kitchen, holding a glass of whisky. I guess he must have taken Elsie to the airport okay, if he hasn’t said anything.
“So, when are you moving?” he asks.
“How did you guess?” I ask, getting some glasses out of the cupboard and pouring us all a drink.
“The way you look at Elsie, is the way I looked at your mum,” he tells us, and I nod, downing my drink.
“We want to buy the building in London off of you, we have enough money between us,”
“It’s yours, but I’m not taking your money. You can consider it an early inheritance,” he replies.
“Thanks, Dad,” Ezra pats him on the shoulder and finishes his drink.
“I’m going to miss having you boys around.”
“We will come back for Christmas and throughout the year, hopefully with Elsie at our side,” I say, and my dad pours another drink for us all.
“Your mum would have been proud of you all,” he says, his eyes watching me closely as I nod, and look down.
“Stay and have some drinks with your old dad, and then I’ll help you pack,” he tell us.
I drink my whiskey and hold out the glass, “Let’s drink,” I say, and he pours me another.
14
Elsie
“Have a good year, and I hope you like the apartment. The directions and everything you need are in here,” John says as he gives me an envelope, and I nod, taking it and sliding it into my bag. John waited for me to pack my bags after I walked away from the guys. Luckily, the snow had been cleared. I didn’t see any of them before I left, even though I wanted to. My mum wouldn’t look at me as she sat on the sofa with her glass of wine and watched TV as I left. I don’t even want to think about her lack of caring that I was leaving. My heart already feels like it’s breaking with every step I take away from my guys. I love them, and I walked away.
“Are you sure you still want me to live there?” I ask John, trying to distract myself.
“Yes. One more thing, Elsie,” he asks me as I start to walk away, and I look back at him. “My sons, do you love them?”
“It’s only been two weeks,” I mumble, not even believing my own words when I know they are a lie.
“When I met Darcie, my sons’ mother, I knew I loved her from one glance. Then, we spent a week together every day, and I knew my thoughts about her weren’t wrong. Love happens when you least expect it and usually at the wrong time and place,” he says, my mind picturing the guys one-by-one. Max, who is cheeky but in a way that makes you want to laugh with him as he takes your heart. Then, there is Flynn who is flirty but has a passionate way about him that draws you in. And, finally Ezra, the dark prince who does little, but every little thing means more. Every touch, every kiss is burnt into my memory, and I hate that it’s only ever going to be that; a memory.
“Did you feel that way about my mum?” I ask him. He smiles as he puts his hands into his pockets.
“No, I met your mum and met someone just as broken up by her past as I am. Your mum has secrets and a past she wants to forget, but it haunts her no matter how much she runs. We have that in common. I do care about your mum and will look after her, but I loved Darcie. I know how my sons feel about you, and I hope they are smart enough to follow you.”
“It wouldn’t work, no matter what I feel,” I tell him, and he goes to respond when the overhead speaker calls for my plane’s passengers to check in for take-off.
“Go, and I will speak to your mum. She didn’t mean to be cold with you,” he tells me. I don’t reply to his statement as I have a feeling she won’t speak to me after this. I turn and pull out the present in my pocket.
“John, wait,” I call him, and he looks back,
“This is from me to my mum. Can you give it her?” I offer him the present, and he accepts it.
“What is it? If you don’t mind me asking?”
“Oh, a dreamcatcher I had made for her. She told me she had bad dreams once, and I saw this cool man who makes them outside some shops in London. I don’t have a lot of money, and I know she might hate it but yeah–” I stop talking when he shakes his head.
“She will love it, and I promise to give her it,” he tells me and I turn, walking away. I get on the plane, hoping to move on with my life but knowing I’m leaving something important behind, my heart.
“This place is amazing. Can I move in?” Dane asks me as he carries the last box of my things into my new apartment. It’s a second-floor, four-bedroom apartment that is modern and far more secure than my last place. I love the white sofas, the large, fake fireplace, and big TV above it in the lounge. The bedrooms have double beds and large wardrobes. The kitchen is all black cabinets and new appliances, and the bedrooms each have their own bathrooms. I didn’t expect it to be this nice, but I can see myself living my life here, it feels like home.
“And, where would your boyfriend live?” I ask and laugh. I lean against the counter and look around the kitchen, my hand holding my necklace. It’s been two weeks since I got back to London, and I haven’t heard anything from the guys or my mum; both of which hurt my heart.
“What happened on Christmas break?” Dane asks.
“Nothing much other than a foursome with my hot stepbrothers, and I think I’m in love with them,” I blurt out, and Dane coughs on air as he stares at me.
“What?” he asks.
“I’m in love with my stepbrothers, and my mum isn’t speaking to me. I messed up,” I say, breaking down and holding my hands over my face as I cry. Dane comes over and hugs me, both of us silent for a while as I calm down.
“If any one of them is smart, they will be here before you know it. I want all the details soon, when you want to tell me,” he says, not judging me, and I’m thankful for that.
“Your mum will come around. I mean I’m sure she has done worse before,” he laughs, and I agree. I expected him to run out the door like most people would do, but, instead, he does what a real friend should do, he hugs me and offers advice. Dane looks down at me, seeing my hand holding the necklace.
“It’s pretty,” he says holding it, and I smile.
“My stepbrothers gave it to me,” I say, and he doesn’t need me to say anything else.
“I have to get to class, but I’ll come around later if you want?”
“Yeah, please. With wine,” I add, and he laughs, pulling me into a hug before leaving. I sit down on my sofa, just as my phone rings. I reach for it quickly, hoping it’s one of the guys, but it’s my mum, and I answer.
“Hey, Mum,” I say quietly,
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for being a shit again. It’s like I can’t help but mess up with you,” she says, sobbing a little.
“I get it. It must have been a shock,” I reply, and I really do understand her reaction on some level.
“Thank you for my Christmas present. It’s in my window of my room, and I love it. I didn’t realise you listened when I told you about
my dreams,” she says, her voice quiet with an almost nervous tone.
“Of course, I listened, Mum, but you never told me what they were about,” I tell her.
“Yes, but I think it’s time we have a talk.”
“About?” I reply.
“Before I met your dad, I was madly in love with a man called Harry,” she says, and I don’t know what to say to that. I guessed mum must have dated someone before she met my dad at twenty but nothing serious as she never spoke of it.
“I didn’t know that,” I tell her, leaning back on the sofa.
“I was in law school, and we were doing our final year together when he had a sudden heart attack and died. I loved Harry since we were both fifteen, and we planned our whole life together.”
“Mum, I–”
“Let me carry on and try to explain this. I haven’t said Harry’s name in over twenty years, but I need to tell you this,” she says, and I stay quiet to listen to her.
“Harry was sweet, funny, and very handsome. We just worked together, and we were each other’s first everything.” She takes a deep breath before she carries on speaking, “When he died, I dropped out of school and gave up.”
“Then you met Dad?” I ask quietly.
“Yes, and for a while I tried to be in love with him. I tried to pretend and have the happy family I felt cheated out of when Harry died, but your dad wasn’t Harry to me. He wasn’t even close, and in some ways, I felt I had betrayed Harry by moving on,” she tells me.
“I don’t think Harry or anyone would have felt that way, Mum. You couldn’t have been expected to mourn him forever.”
“But, I did. I still do, and I will always love him, despite knowing he isn’t here. Do you understand that? The kind of love that will always stick with you?” She says.
“Yes, Mum,” I say, wanting to ask about the guys but knowing I can’t. They haven’t followed me or contacted me, so they must not care. I was just some holiday fun to them, and I fell in love with them. I rub my chest as I feel a sharp pain shoot through my heart, and try to change the subject.
“So, you went off the rails?” I ask her.
“Yes. It’s not an excuse for how I was with you because I should have been there. Instead, I used alcohol and men to forget my past,” she tells me.
“I wish you had told me this sooner. Why now?” I ask her.
“Because, when I saw you laughing and kissing Flynn, you looked as happy as I used to remember being, and I freaked out,” she tells me with a small, sad laugh.
“That’s why you went mad?” I ask.
“Well, that and the shock that my lovely, little daughter is sleeping with three men. Three men that are her stepbrothers, but you know what they say about things that are off-limits,” she chuckles, and I laugh a little with her. “John makes me happy for the first time in a long time, and I think it’s because we have both lost someone we love,” she tells me when we have both been silent on the phone for a while.
“I want to see you more, Mum, and I’m glad you finally found the strength to talk to me and that you have found John. I don’t know what it’s like to lose someone you love like that, but I don’t want to lose you. I want us to be friends, or at least try,” I add in.
“I would like that, too,” she says, sobbing a bit more. My doorbell rings once, and then someone knocks on the door three times.
“I have to go, but can we meet up soon?” I ask her.
“Yes, I will come to you. Bye, Elsie, and I love you.”
“Me too, Mum,” I say, and say ‘bye’ before putting the phone down as I walk to the door. I open the door, and the sight of my three stepbrothers standing in the hallway shocks me enough to drop my phone.
“What . . . what are you doing here?” I ask, and Flynn steps forward, taking my hand and bringing it to his lips.
“We came to get our woman because we love her,” he says as he kisses my hand and pulls me closer to him. I look over at Ezra and Max, who step closer, and then I move away, holding the door with my hand.
“I love you all, too, but how do I know this is going to work?” I reply.
“It’s going to be difficult between us all, but we all want to be here,” Ezra says.
“Not everyone is going to accept us,” I say, holding onto the door tightly, using it to hold myself up as all I want to do is throw myself at them and tell them I want them.
“And, we don’t care. If you say yes, then it’s us. All that matters is us,” Max says gently, and I let go of the door as I speak, knowing I don’t need to think about my answer.
“Yes.”
Epilogue
Elsie
Five years later . . .
“Merry Christmas and happy fourth birthday,” I say to the twins, watching as they jump out of bed and run past me out the door. They run so fast that all I get to see is a glimpse of dark-brown hair running past me. I shut the door to their bedroom, smiling as I remember how excited they were when we turned up here two days ago to spend Christmas with the family. It hasn’t been easy, over the years, with my dad refusing to speak to me after we had a fake wedding ceremony, and I declared my love for all of them. I was heartbroken when he wouldn’t come, but John offered to walk me down the aisle, and he has stepped into the place my dad has left. I hoped he would come around one day, but he hasn’t. Dane, or “Uncle Dane,” as my kids call him, is still my best friend and is now friends with the guys, too.
“Whoa, slow down,” I hear Max say, coming out of the room to see him picking Jack up and tickling him as he tries to escape. Jack looks just like Max with his dark-brown hair and the glasses he has to wear. Max laughs as Jack tries to escape again.
“Dad, let me go,” he says wriggling.
Max replies, “Are you going to slow down and not run?”
“But, it’s Christmas, Dad,” Jack laughs as Max tickles him more, and I watch with a big smile.
“Let’s go, Santa has been here, and there’s birthday presents, too!” Emily shouts from the top of the stairs, jumping up and down like an excited bunny. I smile at her as I feel Flynn wrap an arm around my waist, and Ezra walks past us and over to Emily. He picks Emily up and looks back at us.
“We have to wait for Grandpa and Grandma,” he tells her, and she pouts, in a way that usually gets her whatever she wants.
“Well, they best hurry, Daddy,” she says, crossing her arms, and I hold in a chuckle.
“You sneaked out of our bed this morning.”
“I had to pee,” I whisper back, remembering the long night we had all together. Despite being together so long, nothing has changed between us, and I love them all still. We just work together, and the twins make us even closer as a family. I turn when I hear the floor creak, and I see John and my mum walking towards us. We always spend Christmas at our parents, as it was the place we met and the place we all fell in love. We all live in a large apartment in London as I work as a teacher at the local school where the twins are starting this year. The twins were a welcome surprise, but we aren’t sure who’s they actually are. At the end of the day, it’s not really been an issue for us.
“Come on, then,” my mum says walking over, and we all walk down the stairs. I glance over at my mum, seeing her smile at me and loving how I can actually call her a friend now. Since we spoke about Harry and her past, she has been better. Once a year, I go with her to Harry’s grave and wait as she spends some time talking to him. John always kisses her forehead, and she smiles up at him, and I know she loves him in her own way, just like he loves her the same.
“You look beautiful, today,” Flynn says, distracting me, and I look up at him, seeing his slight beard he has been growing and how it suits him. Flynn and all the guys haven’t changed in looks much over the years. If anything they have gotten better looking.
“Compliments for the pregnant woman do work,” I say, and he kisses me, rubbing his hand over my large baby bump. This one was a surprise, too, but I’m excited to meet him or her. At lea
st, this one won’t be born on Christmas day like the twins were. They came four weeks early, and we just about made it to the hospital before Emily came out screaming. I wasn’t shocked to learn I was pregnant with twins when one of the dads is a triplet. Thankfully, this time there is only one baby, and I think this one will be our last.
“Presents!” Jack shouts, wriggling out of Max’s arms and running over to the tree with Emily following. I watch as my mum and John follow them over and try to keep the madness of them ripping all the presents open in some kind of order. It’s really pointless, but funny, to watch. Flynn keeps an arm around me as Ezra walks over, sliding his hand into mine. I lean up and kiss his cheek.
“Merry Christmas,” Max says as he stops in front of me and kisses me gently, holding my head in his hands.
“Merry Christmas,” I reply, watching as my guys walk over to our family, and I know this is perfect.
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