Chapter 24
Bronson
I walked into my house to hear nothing but laughter.
And that alone filled my heart near to bursting.
Because for almost seventeen hours, I didn’t think I would ever hear it again.
I grinned as I walked into the kitchen to see Cole pouting.
I slapped him on the back, “What’s wrong?”
He grumbled, “She’s holding the fact she knows the recipe over my head.”
Lila snickered, as did Madalyn.
I looked at them, “That right?”
Madalyn shrugged, “Truth hurts.”
I grinned as I made my way over to Lila and wrapped her in my arms.
I buried my face in her hair, cashmere and vanilla, as she placed her hand over my heart, “Always beats for you.”
I lifted my head, then winked as she lifted on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to mine.
I growled at the feel of her.
Needing her.
Wanting her.
But we had to be careful.
The doctor told us to take it easy until her medicine proved to be working, and the rejection meds worked too.
I lifted my head from her lips and whispered, “Love you.”
She winked up at me, “Love you, too.”
Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve learned to treasure moments longer.
To love harder.
To express our feelings more deeply.
To argue about stupid shit and then laugh about it.
To never go to bed angry at one another.
And last... to love each other unconditionally.
***
I sat there in the office as I asked again, “It’s working?”
He chuckled, “Yes, Mr. Adams. It’s working.”
“That means I can make love to her. Right?”
He chuckled then nodded, “It does.”
I grinned, then stood, offered the doctor my hand, then once he shook it, I had my woman up and over my shoulder, all the while she giggled and slapped my back.
***
“Got this dream,” I said as I unlocked the door to the gym.
She lifted a brow, “That right?”
I grinned, “Oh yeah.”
Five minutes later, I had her legs wrapped around my waist, both of our clothes off, and she was pressed to the cage.
I wrapped my hand around the side of her neck and said, “I’ve only ever been good at fighting before Cole and Madalyn came into my life.
And then I thought that was all there was.
Until you. Until you showed me what it means to be truly loved.
Wanted. Desired. Needed. It’s you. Always only ever been you. ”
Her eyes misted.
“Harder, honey,” she whispered against my lips.
I grinned, “Yes, baby. Fuck yes.”
I pulled out of her tight heat and slammed into her tight wet pussy even harder.
Her eyes left mine for a second as they rolled in the back of her head.
I twisted my hips and slammed into her over and over and over.
And when I felt her perfect little pussy clamp down on my cock, just like it was before, I said, “Give it to me, baby.”
She gave it.
But this time... she leaned forward and bit down on my shoulder as she came.
I let go, too.
Filling her up, and once we both came down, I whispered, “Go off the shot.”
She gasped, “Oh shit!”
I widened my eyes, “What?”
She winced. “Well... after you did what you did, I didn’t go to my appointment for the next round. Because you were it for me and with everything I was facing, it just didn’t make sense.”
I grinned, “So what you’re telling me is that we might have just made a baby?”
She winced. “Bronson.”
“Lila, baby, what?” I asked with a frown.
“This is something else taken from you. I didn’t even think about it. I should have told you about the shot.” She whispered.
Sorrow and regret were written plain on her features.
I released my hold on her and made sure she was good to stand on her two feet when I wrapped her head in my hands, then I whispered, “Baby. You did that to me; I’d still fucking love you.”
A tear trailed down her cheek. I winked down at her, “Besides, just another claim I get to use to tell the world you're mine.”
“Really, you’d be okay with that?” she asked.
“Long as the woman my baby calls Mom is you, then fuck yeah, I’d be okay with that.”
***
“Where are we going?” she asked with a smile.
A smile I had thought was taken from me.
I winked down at her, "It’s a surprise.”
She grumbled but climbed on the back of my bike.
And then, once she was settled, I started the bike up.
And like a shot, we were off.
We rode and rode for two hours to a little slice of heaven I found one day.
It was at the top of a mountain.
The moment we reached the top; I pulled the bike to a stop.
Then I cut the motor.
I helped her climb off and then helped her take the helmet off.
Followed by my own.
Then I took her hand and led her to the edge.
The whole of Whispering Falls was laid out before us.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her to me.
“Made provisions. Should something ever happen to me. And if you had been taken from me, then this is where I would have followed you to the pearly gates.”
She tried to turn her body around in my arms, but I held her fast.
I rested my head atop her head and said, “If I didn’t have Cole and Madalyn, I have no doubt that I would have found my way to you. I used to think that soul mates were a myth. But it’s not. Because you're mine.”
And with those words, I released her and dropped to one knee while pulling the Tiffany blue box out of my pocket.
Then I flipped the lid open and waited.
And my woman didn’t make me wait long.
No, she spun around.
Her head dropped so her eyes landed on me, and then I asked, “Marry me.”
Lila
“Marry me,” he said.
Marry.
Me.
“Are you serious?” I asked.
He growled, “Fuck it. I’m not asking. I’m telling.”
I giggled, then I vaulted my body into his.
He went back on his ass as his arms wrapped around me, and then he rolled us so I was on the bottom, and he was on top of me.
Then I brought my hands to his face and said, “This is the easiest yes I’ve ever said my ancient artifact.”
He grinned, “Fucking good.”
Then his eyes narrowed, “I’ll show you a fucking ancient artifact.”
Then he slammed his mouth down on mine.
And there, on the mountain top, he made sweet, slow love to me.
And yes... he showed me he definitely wasn’t an ancient artifact.
And when we came together, he took the diamond solitaire out of the pretty blue box and slid it on my finger.
Then he pressed a kiss to it and whispered, “Easiest question I’ve ever asked.”
I grinned, then I teased, “Thought you were demanding it?”
He winked down at me, “I was. But Lila baby, if you had said no, I would have asked. Every. Single. Fucking. Day.”
A Month Later
I placed my hand in Bronson’s, then my other in Cole’s as Madalyn did the same.
Then, as a family, we swayed to Rest Your Love On Me by Conway Twitty.
But as the song ended, Cole and Madalyn walked away.
Bronson wrapped me in his arms as the familiar chords to Breathe by Faith Hill played around us.
My husband and I swayed.
“I love you,” I whispered up at him.
He winked down at me, “I love you too, wife.”
Bronson
At the knock on the door, I moved to it and opened the door.
And you could have knocked me over with a feather at who I saw standing there.
Well... the people I saw standing there.
“You paid her to drug me. Didn’t you?” I asked in a deadly tone.
And nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.
I watched as my woman brought her hand up and slapped the fuck out of my mother’s cheek.
I winced, “Shit.”
I felt my balls shrivel at the sound of my wife’s slap.
Then my woman looked at me and said, “I told you to never let me near them.”
Then I burst out laughing.
Bax came stalking up to my side, stepped around Lila, then brought his arm back and sailed his fist into the other bastard’s face who was standing there.
Lila’s biological dad.
Cole came up then, “Who is that Grandpa just punched?”
Bax sneered, “Her fucking sperm donor.”
Cole nodded.
Stepped forward and said, “This is for my Lila.”
Then he too punched the bastard square in the jaw.
He punched him so hard, I swear I saw his jaw rock to the side, and then it broke.
I smirked.
Then I grinned.
Proudly.
“Fist okay, baby?” Lila asked.
Cole looked down at her and grinned, “Oh yeah.”
She lifted on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, “Thank you, sweetheart. I am so proud I get to call you mine.”
Madalyn stormed over, and then she, too, slapped my mother across her face.
Then she looked at Lila and asked, “How does your hand not hurt?”
Lila burst out laughing.
Cole
Lying there in my bed, I thought about things.
And the more I thought about it, the more everything felt right.
I wished Lila had been my mother.
Didn’t matter that we already had a woman we referred to as Mother, even though neither Madalyn nor I saw her as that.
But we did see Lila as that.
That was why I threw the covers off and headed out of my room and walked to Madalyn’s.
I knocked on her door.
“It’s open.” She called out.
I entered her room and then crawled into bed beside her, “Thinking about something.”
She looked at me with a smile, then she leaned over, pulled out the drawer on her nightstand and handed me a packet of papers.
I read it.
Application for Adoption... I grinned.
She winked.
Then we both heard feet coming up the stairs.
It was Dad.
He stomped.
Lila floated.
He poked his head in, “School night. Why the fuck are the two of you still up?”
I looked at Madalyn and lifted my chin.
She grinned.
Then she said, “We have something we want to talk to you about.”
He nodded, then entered the room. I called out, “Close the door, please.”
He lifted a brow but did as I asked.
Then, when he was closer, Madalyn handed him the papers.
He took them, read them, and then I watched as he inhaled deeply, and then slowly let it out, “You both want this?”
We both nodded, “Yes.”
He looked at us, then proudly he said, “Damn but I did good.”
***
Madalyn
Dad lifted his chin at me, and I smiled.
“Hey, Lila?” I called out.
She turned from flipping pancakes to look at me, “Yeah, sweetheart?”
“We have something for you,” I said.
She nodded, then she set the spatula down and said, “You're on-pancake duty, honey.”
He grinned, “Turn it off.”
She lifted a brow, “Excuse me?”
“Please,” he amended.
She smirked, then turned the burner off.
She grabbed a hand towel and walked over to us.
I pointed at the barstool.
She lifted a brow but sat down beside Dad.
I looked at Cole and winked.
He grinned, then looked at Lila, “So there’s something we want to ask you.”
She nodded, “Yes, I would have given you a kidney but now I can’t.”
We giggled as Dad growled.
She bumped his shoulder.
I asked, “Would you give us your heart?”
She looked at me with a sweet smile on her face, “All day everyday, sweetheart.”
I grinned, “Good. Because that’s kind of a requirement.”
But Cole and I knew that if one of us really needed her heart, she’d give it without hesitation.
I handed her the paperwork.
She took it, and then her eyes stalled on a part of the first page.
I grinned, then slid a pen her way.
Her eyes came to us with tears welling in them, “Are you both serious?”
We both nodded at once.
She set the papers down, then looked at us and said, “On one condition.”
We both nodded.
“You both have to promise this, okay?” she said.
We both nodded again.
“Don’t ever fucking change.” She said as tears trailed down her cheeks, then she was up, racing around the corner of the island, and had her arms around both of us.
And then... three weeks later, we stood in front of the judge.
And the moment he sighed the papers, I looked at her, “Love you, Mom.”
Tears trailed down her cheeks.
Cole snickered, “Yeah, Mom. Love you, too.”
She cried harder.
Dad wrapped her in his arms and buried his face in her hair.
Bronson
Four Months Later
I sat there as my entire world yelled at the television.
Football was always alive in our house.
We all pulled for the Nashville Trojans. And no, that had nothing to do with the card my boy had been handed all those months ago.
Just then, my phone rang.
I pulled it out and checked the caller.
Seeing it was my lawyer’s name, I frowned, then I answered the call.
“Yeah?”
***
An hour later, we were surrounding a little hospital bed, Lila and I had just signed the temporary paperwork.
“He’s fucking ours,” Cole growled.
Madalyn nodded, “Oh yeah.”
A Month Later
The judge banged the gavel.
Logan vaulted himself into Lila’s arms, then mine, then Cole’s, then Madalyn’s.
I grinned, “Logan Alexander McKinnon, we all love you.”
Tears formed in his green eyes, then he smiled.