THREE OF A KIND
Ivy
“What do you think?”
I show my shimmery, ruby-red dress to my trusty fashion sidekick.
Roxy watches me eagerly from her spot on the floor in the main bedroom, probably with the hope that I have a secret burger stashed somewhere. Her tail twitches, a telltale sign where her heart really is.
“Fine. I’ll take your silence as two paws up.”
She wags her tail harder. Wow, she really thinks I have food for her, the cute little beggar.
I gather the silky-soft material of my dress and bend to give her a scratch under the chin. But she offers me a tongue in return. Okay, maybe she did want a kiss.
“I love you too,” I coo, giving a soft kiss to her even softer little nose.
Then I rise and let the dress fall against my legs, the material swishing as I leave the bedroom in my gala finest, my girl trotting beside me, decked out in her red-and-white holiday bandana with illustrations of dog bones on it.
Before I even reach the living room, though, I hear the debate.
“You are the raccoon on meth,” Hayes accuses.
With a confident chuckle, Stefan says, “No. It’s Ivy.”
I stop and listen, my lips twitching in amusement.
“No. She’s organized. You just appear to be,” Hayes says.
“Pfft.”
“Just admit it.”
I stifle a laugh.
“I admit nothing,” Stefan says, and I imagine he’s leaning back in a chair, casual and easy, holding a tumbler of scotch.
Hayes is relentless though. “In every home, there’s one person who stacks the dishwasher like a Scandinavian architect and the other like a raccoon on meth.”
“Obviously, I’m the architect. Isn’t that what I’ve been all along?”
Stefan makes a good point, and it sounds like case closed.
Roxy and I proceed, and when we turn the corner, warmth flows over me.
My men look so good, relaxed at home. They’re both wearing tailored suits.
Stefan lounges on the couch, decked out in a dark blue suit that matches his gorgeous eyes and hugs his strong frame.
In one hand, he holds a tumbler of amber liquid.
Hayes, dressed in a dark charcoal suit, leans against the mantel where stockings are hung with care.
Roxy barks a hello, announcing our presence.
In tandem, the men turn to me and jaws drop.
“Wow.”
“Gorgeous.”
“You look...”
“Incredible.”
Their praise feels like champagne bubbling through my body, but I hold up a hand. “I have a confession.”
Concern flashes in Hayes’s dark eyes. He stares hard at me, asking silently, Are we doing this right now?
But I need to set the record straight. “I’m the raccoon on meth,” I say pointing to my chest.
Stefan’s grin stretches across his handsome face, and he looks pointedly at his teammate. “Told you so.”
Hayes shakes his head like he’s disappointed in me. “I stand corrected.”
“It seems we have two architects and one feral trash panda,” I say.
Hayes’s expression softens. “But you’re our trash panda.”
“I am.”
Stefan pauses to linger his gaze on me. “And you look absolutely stunning, sweetheart.”
“I don’t know how we’ll last all night at the gala,” Hayes adds in a gravelly rasp, his eyes not leaving my body.
They look like they’re about to upend all of our plans this evening and take me here on this couch instead.
“Just think of tonight like foreplay,” I suggest. I’m helpful like that.
“Fair enough.” Stefan sets down his glass and gestures to the door. “Should we go?”
Not so fast. We have a surprise for him.
I turn to Hayes, anticipation bubbling up in me. I give him a quick nod, and he crosses to the U-shaped couch. Roxy’s sitting on the floor next to me. “Actually, Ivy and I have an early Christmas gift for you,” Hayes says as I scoop up the dog and set her on the couch.
Stefan furrows his brow, but amusement coasts across his lips. “Is that so?”
Hayes and I taught Roxy a new trick. He reaches into the pocket of his pants and takes out one, new Christmas sock with illustrations of presents on it. It’s weighted down in the toe.
He gives it to me. I dangle the sock before the dog. “Roxy, give the sock to Stefan,” I say.
She takes it.
Stefan startles. His expression grows more curious as Roxy trots across the cushions to him, the sock in her mouth.
I’m bursting with excitement, giddy before he can even open it. I meet Stefan’s eyes. “I love you both so much, and I don’t want a husband and a boyfriend. I want both of you as my partners.”
Stefan’s eyes glimmer with wild hope. My marriage to Hayes was a legality, born from a late-night dare that had me married to one man while I fell equally for two.
With us all living together now and sharing our lives, I don’t want the distinction anymore. Hayes doesn’t either. Distinctions might exist in the eye of the law, but we can make our rules for our world.
“Hayes and I got new rings. Three of them. They match,” I say, my voice trembling with emotion.
Stefan parts his lips, but he can barely speak. “I…wow…I’m…”
“Open it,” I say.
Stefan reaches into the sock, takes out the box, and opens it. When he sees three gorgeous, matching platinum bands, his eyes glisten. But he’s stoic—a hockey player after all. He swipes his cheek like there was simply dirt in his eye.
“Let’s do this,” Hayes says to his friend, intensely serious.
Stefan stares at the rings for a long, weighty beat then says, “Yes.”
Like if he said more, all the tears would fall.
He takes out the bands and turns one over, then the other, then the third. Studies each inscription on the inside. They’re all the same.
Home.
He looks up at us, his eyes full of love. He stands and holds out his hand to me. With reverence, I slide the band on his ring finger. Then I hold up my hand for him to see I’m no longer wearing my gold ring from Las Vegas. Hayes does the same. His finger is bare.
I slide another band onto Hayes’s finger.
Then they take the last one and together, they slide it onto mine.
A little later, we walk into the gala, three of a kind.
* * *
During the awards ceremony, I sit with Stefan’s family from Copenhagen, chatting and getting to know his outgoing parents, his friendly brothers and sisters, and then watching and cheering the loudest when my man receives the Sportsman of the Year award that he so deeply deserves.
An award that no one could ever take away from him.
Afterward, when the photographer asks for a picture, Stefan brings Hayes and me to him. We pose together with me in the middle, our matching bands visible for all the world to see.
On the way out of the hotel, I stop to say goodbye to Trina, showing her the rings, then telling her about the gift.
“You beat me to it,” she teases.
“Your day will come soon,” I say, and I’m a fortune teller evidently, since a few months later, Chase and Ryker propose to her on Valentine’s Day. And she says yes. It looks like we’ll be having a busy season of triad weddings.
Until then, I keep busy with work, doing what I’ve been doing.
Turns out, my side hustle as Foxy is hard for me to give up.
I love whipping up the crowds at home games for a sport I adore.
During the days, I keep writing articles for Birdie and a few others, including my own channels, as well as working for the store.
Oh, and I have one more new client—Jessie hired me as her personal stylist.
Looks like I picked the right name, because I am definitely a scrappy little fashionista. One with a devoted canine sidekick, who likes hanging out with me as I work.
At the end of the hockey season—the best of Hayes’s hockey career—the team offers him a new contract, and he says yes so fast. He loves being part of the Golden State Foxes.
It’s a relief to him, but not a surprise to me at all. I believed in him from the start, and I’m glad he started to believe in himself more as the season went on.
That summer, the three of us host our friends and family in a private wedding ceremony in our San Francisco backyard, where we pledge our love to each other.
We aren’t the only ones going on a honeymoon though. Aubrey is too, but it’s not what she expected. It’s…complicated. Well, double honeymoons are, and I’m sure I’ll get all the details when she returns.
When we arrive at our hotel in Tuscany, I shut out thoughts of everyone else, and so do my guys. Once the door to the honeymoon suite closes, Stefan turns to Hayes and says, “Question for you.”
“Hit me up,” Hayes says.
Stefan moves behind me, pushes my hair to the side of my neck, then presses a kiss to my nape while looking at Hayes. “Do you want to fuck my wife?”
With a smile, I lean back against one of my husbands.
The look on my other husband’s face is magic. Kind of like how I feel with both of them.