Chapter 64
***Remington***
I couldn’t help but smile as I watched Memphis coming up the path towards us like an angry bull.
She was actually kicking up rocks with each fuming step.
It felt like her bump got bigger each time I saw her and she carried it beautifully.
I felt fluttering in my stomach as I watched her and stared at her stomach in awe.
“I fucking have butterflies.” I uttered it in amazement, not meaning for it to be heard, but when I looked up, I could tell Memphis heard it by the way she seemed to hesitate before she said anything.
She stopped in front of the table and looked at each of us. “I don’t know if your most recent gift is supposed to be some kind of joke, but it’s not funny.”
I waited for her to continue, because I knew that couldn’t be all of her anger, but she didn’t add anything else. Thrown off, I searched her for any sign of distress. More than what we naturally caused her. “Are you okay?”
Her eyes flashed as she looked at me. “No, I’m not okay. I’m fat and out of breath from running over here to tell you what a pig you are and I can’t even do that because your demon spawn is sucking the life right out of me.”
Boone made a strangled sound that might’ve been a laugh, but her glare cut him off. Instead, he stood up and pulled out a chair for her. “Sit down. Please.”
She held her belly as she sat. “Thank you. If you give me a few minutes, I’ll be able to start yelling.”
I laughed. It was probably the completely wrong thing to do, but I couldn’t help myself. She was fucking magic. Everything about her was like lightning in a bottle and I knew life would never be as good without her. “So you’re convinced it’s my spawn now?”
She blushed and the sight of it went straight to my dick. “Only when she’s trying to kill me.”
“I did make kidnapping plans for today if you weren’t willing to listen to us grovel but the plans ended at kidnapping. No murder for me.” I held her gaze and felt more of those butterflies. “If you want to yell some first, I’ll wait, though.”
“I’ll be honest. I don’t have it in me to yell.
I used my energy to get over here and now I think I’ll have to ask Pete to get the wheelbarrow to get me back home.
I’ve got heartburn, my hips hurt, and if I even look at dairy, I’ll be able to set up a supply of natural gas on the back acre.
I feel gross, I sound gross, and I look gross.
And my feet are swelling. This pregnancy is not aging well and it’s almost time for my nap, so I’ll just say this.
If that baby furniture is for anything other than what I think it is, I have a whole lifetime of crazy saved up and I’ll spend it all on the three of you. ”
Boone put his elbows on the table as he leaned closer to her. “I love you.”
He was off track but I knew he was just going with his heart. Judging by the dopey grin on his face, I wasn’t sure he even knew he’d said it out loud.
“Are you kidding me, Boone Hawke? I just told you I have gas and you tell me you love me?” Memphis threw her hands up.
“I don’t know what is wrong with y’all. You love me?
Boone, I have gas and fat feet and sometimes you can see the baby moving and it’s like I’m a science experiment. You can’t love me.”
He smiled wider. “I can and I do. You can’t stop me.”
“Give me a reason why I should forgive y’all for how you treated me.”
“Is my love not enough?” Boone’s leg bounced under the table.
“You should forgive us because we know that we fucked up. Listen to this. I’m not just going to say I’m sorry.
That’s cheap. I’m sorry for holding you to a higher standard than we held ourselves and for expecting you to be perfect when we are so far from it.
I’m sorry for treating you with a sickening level of disrespect when you came to us trying your hardest to make things right.
I’m sorry that I pushed you away and let you feel lonely for a single moment. ”
She looked down as her eyes grew red. “Okay, that’s a pretty good apology.”
“Instead of running with our tails between our legs when you kicked us out, I should’ve made it very clear that we didn’t have a single clue what women you were talking about.
Everything else was fair. I can’t stand the thought of you believing the night you told you that you loved us, we called three women over to party.
” I shook my head. “I saw the video. I don’t know any of them.
None of us do. We were an emotional mess and drank to black out that night pretty much.
Two more things. My dick doesn’t work unless it’s for you.
And those women did not have great tits. You’re a liar.”
Memphis looked so fucking hopeful that it nearly killed me. “Why were they here?”
“I don’t know, sweetheart. I can promise you that it wasn’t for us. Not by our doing, anyway. I don’t want anyone else. I just want you.” I gripped my chair hard, doing my best not to rush her.
“That night we got so drunk because I found our mom’s old diary.
We kind of have your brother to thank for it.
What was in it proved that the narrative we’d been told since she died was wrong.
” Wells sat forward and took her hand. “We thought she didn’t want us and was fleeing to be with her lover when she died.
That wasn’t true. She was going to have her partner, a woman named Bridgette, move into the guest house with her.
She was trying to figure out how to add space so she could move us in with them without us being cramped. ”
“Whoa.” Memphis blinked and giant tears rolled down her cheeks. “It’s so sweet. She wanted y’all even closer, in a space she made her own. Was your dad not going to notice or...?”
“He knew about it and had his own things going on, I guess. That’s a story for another day.” Looking at me and Boone, Wells took a deep breath. “The thing is, Memphis, we want to live in the guest house.”
She shook her head automatically. “I’m not moving into the dark house with shadow people. No way.”
“We were kind of hoping you’d stay, too.” He laughed a little. “You’re there, the baby furniture is there. It just makes sense for us to be there, too.”
I held my breath and tried to be patient. I was nervous, though. Too nervous. “This is where the kidnapping comes in, depending on your answer.”
She laughed and the sound did so much to soothe my fears.
“Let’s take a break from that conversation really quickly, so I can point something out.
You three are toddlers. You were happy to have me wait as long as you wanted to forgive me, but now that you’re ready to be forgiven, you’re going to resort to kidnapping after three days?
What are you going to do to ensure that we don’t repeat a pattern of raising spoiled brats who think they get whatever they want when they want it? ”
My mouth fell open and I stuttered as all of my planned thoughts vanished. Looking at Boone and Wells, they looked just as surprised. I snapped my mouth shut and cleared my throat. “Ouch.”
Wells grimaced. “Yeah, I think crawling into a hole might be fun right about now.”
Boone shrugged. “I already knew I could be a spoiled brat. I’m a surgeon. What do you expect?”
“It’s something for y’all to work on. Maybe especially you, Boone.
” Memphis smiled sweetly and my chest ached at the sight of that smile.
“I want it to be fair between us. There’s three of you and just one of me.
If you get mad and shut me out, there’s no one but me.
If I get mad, the three of you are all together.
I don’t want to be the odd man out. I may not have gone to Yale or even graduated high school, but I’m an equal or I’m nothing. ”
Boone nodded with a little less patience. “We don’t think less of you, Memphis.”
“And we’ll be sure that we’re not teaming up on you.” I saw her eyebrow lift at the innuendo and groaned. “Don’t do that, sweetheart. It’s been a long time without you and I’ve missed you more than I want to admit.”
“Are we agreeing to this?” Wells was just as on edge as I was.
“I don’t think there was ever a question posed.” Memphis leaned forward and the way her breasts nearly spilled out of her dress just about killed me.
Wells groaned. “I love you, Memphis, but maybe today isn’t the day we work on our patience.”
“I still don’t hear a question.”
I stood up and moved around the table so I could pull her into my arms. Just feeling her pressed against me again made breathing easier. “Memphis King, of some trailer park in Georgia, can the three of us move in with you and raise our babies together?”
“You did not just bring the trailer park into this.” She rolled her eyes even as she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Oh, wow. This is going to take some getting used to. Our daughter is already a cockblock.”
I shook my head at her. “You can’t call our daughter a cockblock.”
“If Boone can tell me he loves me after I say I have gas, I can call our daughter a cockblock. All’s fair in love and gas.” She looked over at Boone and smiled. “I love you, too, by the way. It’s not cute gas, though. Y’all might want to wait to move in until this passes.”
“Stop talking about your gas. I’m trying to tell you I love you.” I laughed at the annoyed look on her face.
“This is not a romantic declaration of love, y’all. We’re going to have to tell our grandbabies one day that y’all told me you loved me over a conversation about my gas.” She stomped her foot. “This is so embarrassing.”
“I love you, sweetheart.” I pressed my lips to hers gently, savoring the feeling I’d been missing. “Tell me you love me now.”
She giggled against my lips. “I love you, Wells.”
I growled. “That’s mean.”
“Fine, you big baby. I love you. I love all of you and nothing I tried to do to stop it worked, so I guess it’s here to stay. Congratulations.” She tugged at my hair. “You had butterflies?”
I closed my eyes and nodded. “Still do.”
Boone clapped his hands as he stood up, drawing our attention. “I can be packed and ready to go in ten minutes.”
Memphis frowned. “Where are you going?”
I leaned closer and whispered against her ear. “We’re still doing the kidnapping plan.”
“And it involves not telling you where we’re going.” Wells stood up and pressed a kiss to Memphis’s shoulder. “You don’t need to worry about clothes, though.”
“I can’t just leave, y’all. I have a cat now.
Carter and I bonded. He’s not a fan of y’alls, so I don’t know how he’s going to feel about you moving in.
I also have my call with Knox. And Jake promised me he was going to get me a copy of this really funny thing we did one time.
We have plans to watch it together with Bea. ”
I blew out a sigh. “You don’t understand kidnapping, do you?”
Her mouth stretched into a wide smile. “Fine. But someone has to take care of Carter.”
Boone grunted. “I think I heard Jake volunteer.”