“We got the designer from that one show she loves,” Lincoln offered.
Kristy Aldridge offered a smile that she quickly tried to smother when Jason pinned her with a look. “Honey, I am trying to scare these boys.”
“Why?” She rolled her eyes. “They have been in love with her since they were like five, and Dahlia loves them back—what more can you ask for as a parent? They make her happy, and she loves them.”
Exactly! I could only hope he would see her logic.
Her voice lowered. “Plus if they stay on Wildberry Lane, our grandbabies are going to be right across the street.”
“Lord.” Jason chuckled, closing his eyes. “Fine. Here’s the thing. I will give you my blessing, but I need you to do something. I know this situation is untraditional, so I understand why you all want to live together…but not until you are engaged. I won’t have you wait until marriage, but you have to be engaged so she has a promise from all of you.”
That would not be a goddamn problem.
“Okay—”
“And”—he put up a hand—“Dahlia sets the timeline for when the wedding is, whether that’s now or in four years. She may want to go to school or she may decide not to, but I don’t want her feeling rushed into anything. Understand? I don’t care if all of you are ready—”
“Jason.” Kristy frowned. “You forced me down the aisle a week after we met.”
His eyes jumped with amusement before he shrugged. “Great thing about being a parent, you get to make the rules.”
“That works for us,” I admitted, knowing that we would agree to that. Living together and engaged was fucking perfect, and then Dahlia could decide when we officially got married.
As in, decide that next week was the best time, while she was in a euphoric state from being fucked so much that she could barely see straight.
“See?” Kristy nudged him. “Now come on, you grump. I want to go check in on her. The doctor is going to be going up there soon.”
After a moment, Jason looked at all of us and then narrowed his eyes. “If you ever hurt her, I will bury you alive.”
I blinked, wondering how such a simple threat could make me feel so uneasy.
Dahlia’s mom huffed and grabbed his arm as they walked towards the door. She turned back and looked at all of us. “Love you boys.” Her eyes were filled with warmth despite the exhaustion and concern for her daughter that was clearly affecting her. “Oh, also don’t forget to work some grandbabies into this entire plan.”
The door closed as Jason bit out something about that I couldn’t hear, leaving us all in silence.
“Thank god for Mrs. Aldridge,” Stratton muttered, making me nod.
“She’s a godsend,” Sterling agreed.
“I say we give her exactly what she wants.” King flashed a smile.
Lincoln arched a brow. “Grandbabies? Somehow I think that comes after the marriage part.”
“We probably need to get a ring,” Dermot pointed out.
“I may know which kind she wants. She added a ton to her Pinterest board two weeks ago,” I said casually. Luckily, none of them seemed to think that was odd. I had almost lost my shit thinking she had been thinking of getting married to someone that wasn’t us, but luckily I had calmed myself down before storming to her house and demanding answers from her.
“We need to handle that this week,” Sterling said, and I felt my smile grow.
I could not wait to see a ring on her far too bare left finger.
* * *
Present…
Dahlia’s beautiful laughter pulled me from where I was staring out into the gardens, the large lounge we were all in filled with comfortable conversation and familiar noise. I couldn’t tell you how long I’d zoned out for, but a large part of it was because I finally felt on more stable ground, if only to a small extent, now that Dahlia was awake. Not only awake, but safe with all of us. Everyone was currently gathered in the lounge right outside Mr. Ross’s office, and no one was talking about anything out of the ordinary, but it still felt different to me.
Our feelings for Dahlia had been a secret for so damn long, and suddenly they weren’t, and it was almost surreal. My eyes moved to where Dahlia was sitting on Sterling’s lap next to Lincoln, surrounded by all of the moms, including my own. While they seemed to just be casually chatting, I could practically see the excitement between them. Considering Dahlia had been the only ‘daughter’ any of them had, I knew they were thrilled. I also knew for a fact that the moms had talked about all of this for years now. It had started as a joke, but I don’t think they were very surprised when they saw the unique relationship forming.