Epigraph #5
He was always making me laugh. I settled in, and was delightfully surprised when the screen flashed with an old I Love Lucy episode, and I was locked in. I loved Lucille Ball.
Of course, my man knew that.
Cuddled up to Thatcher, I laughed my ass off at Lucy and Ricky’s antics.
I had popcorn and snacks early into the viewing, and an usher brought us more snacks throughout the episodes.
I was eating, laughing, and enjoying myself.
About halfway through the screening, I realized Thatcher wasn’t really watching the show. He was watching me.
He was smiling.
I kissed him before turning back to watch. I felt so warm and loved. I was warm in love, in so many different ways.
I placed my hand on my stomach, smiling. After the latest episode wrapped, I turned to Thatcher. “Hey, um…”
“You’re about to miss the best part, Snowflake,” he said before kissing my cheek. He pointed up at the screen, and I turned. I blinked. Thatcher was on the screen.
“Heya, snowflake,” Thatcher on the screen said, and I faced my Thatcher.
My Thatcher laughed. “Just watch.”
I had no idea what this man was up to. Movie Thatcher was in his regular t-shirt and jeans sitting on the couch in our house. Out of nowhere, he pulled something out of his pocket. I couldn’t see what it was at first.
But then, well, I did.
Movie Thatcher had a black box in his hands. He rubbed it with his hand, and my heart thudded when he opened it.
It was a ring.
I faced Thatcher, my Thatcher.
He smiled. “Just watch.”
I turned toward the screen, and the most stunning ring I’d ever seen was there. It was yellow and square cut and something too beautiful to even be real.
“I’ve gotten a lot of advice in the past twenty-four hours from our friends,” Movie Thatcher said. He smiled. “Ares said that calm comes with knowing. If you’re okay, I know I’ll be okay, Snowflake.”
I swallowed.
“His wife, Fawn, said I need to know what you need before even you know it,” Movie Thatcher said. “I’ll try every day to do that for you.”
My heart skipping, I leaned forward.
“Dorian basically told me to fuck off for waking him up,” Movie Thatcher said, laughing. I did too. “But after that, he told me to speak to you with my heart. He said that will do all the talking for me.”
My heart warmed.
“Sloane offered some great advice. She said to always make you feel safe,” Movie Thatcher said, and the muscle in my chest kicked up its beat.
Movie Thatcher tilted his head. “I will always be that for you, and I’ll always protect you.
I’d let death gratefully take me knowing you’d get to go on another day. ”
And I knew he would.
I was crying at this point, but I wasn’t looking away from the screen. I didn’t want to miss any of this.
“Wells and Bru told me everything would be fine today, and Bru offered me some advice about our future kids,” Movie Thatcher said, and my mouth parted.
Movie Thatcher grinned wide. “He said that not everything in life will go as planned, but that’s okay.
Aspen, we’ll be so in love with our lives and children that it won’t even matter.
I’ll be so in love with you and our kids it won’t matter. ”
The heat of emotion burned my throat. Mouth dry, I swallowed, and I blinked when the screen went dark. Movie Thatcher was gone, but that was okay.
Because real Thatcher was beside me.
He was still sitting next to me. He wasn’t on his knee, but he didn’t have to be. He had that same box from the screen open in front of my face. The yellow diamond caught every speck of the dim light in the room.
“My sister told me that I was enough,” he said, staring at the ring. “And I hope to God I am for you, Snowflake. I can’t see my life with you not in it. I don’t want to see it.”
I didn’t want to either. That sounded horrible, devastating.
He took my hand then, my shaking, wet hand, but he didn’t seem bothered by that. Lifting his head, he smiled at me. “Aspen, will you marry me—”
I kissed him silent. That was such a dumb question.
He didn’t even have to ask.
I was glad he did, though. Even though it was obvious what I’d say, he did all this. It was one of the many reasons I loved him.
“Duh,” I said, my tongue brushing his. He sucked in a breath, and I smiled. “Yes, Thatcher Reed. Forever and a million times over yes.”
“Fuck, yeah,” he said, his big hand in my locs. He bit my lip. “I love you so much.”
“I love you,” I said, basically on his lap at this point, and we both laughed.
We laughed and kissed until we pulled away from each other enough for him to put that ring on my finger.
The thing basically ate my hand it was so big, but it honestly didn’t matter what he got me.
He could have proposed with a twist tie, and I still would have said yes.
Honestly, that would have been weirdly him.
It would have been weirdly us.
Thatcher
I’d gone to many parties in my life, but this one was for Snowflake and me: our engagement party, which was fucking crazy. We were engaged.
She said yes.
The pride I had that this woman had a ring on her finger that I gave her hit me hard.
Did I know she was going to say yes? I hoped she would, but something inside me would probably always worry when it came to her.
I feared I wasn’t good enough for her. This was ironic because, before I met her, I was a cocky little shit.
It was easy to have confidence when it came to casual lays, but when a guy really wanted something? Someone?
Snowflake was stunning today. My parents were throwing this party for us at my childhood home, and she was the belle of the ball in her white dress.
The outfit was like a prelude of what was to come.
She had her locs all done up and pinned, and her lips were red and completely kissable, fuckable.
Her pretty brown skin glowed, and I had a feeling we’d be all over each other later.
We were always all over each other, but even more since we got engaged.
“Happy to know that was what all that weirdness was about the day of Wolf’s wedding,” Dorian said, chuckling. My friends had all figured that the reason behind my questions was to get their advice without being obvious.
Dorian shook his head. “You’re such an idiot fucker, but I’m glad you finally asked her. You guys are perfect.”
“More than,” Wolf said. He and Fawn cut their honeymoon in the tropics short just to come back for the engagement party.
They didn’t have to do that, but I wasn’t surprised he had.
We were brothers in every way but the biological sense.
All our friends were. Wolf raised his glass of bourbon. “To Thatch and Aspen.”
“To Thatch and Aspen,” Wells said, and the rest of the guys joined in the toast. I seriously loved these fuckers I called friends, and they’d all be my best men.
That was just kind of how we did things.
Even at Wells and Bru’s commitment ceremony with my sister us guys were up there with them.
Wells grinned. “So when are the kids coming?”
“Shit, bro. One thing at a time,” I said, chuckling. But I wanted nothing more than to get Snowflake knocked up. To see her swollen and pregnant with my child…
I smiled. “I’d honestly love that. If it were up to me, we’d be pregnant yesterday.”
I knew Snowflake still had dreams for her life, though. It was possible to have kids at the same time, but it was harder. The only reason she broke from touring was to go back to school, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.
“Yeah, kids are fun,” Bru said, staring at Bailee. She was playing in the corner with LJ and Billie’s daughter, Faith. Yep, my goddad, LJ, had a kid not long ago and our entire family had been ecstatic. He and Billie had always wanted kids.
Faith wasn’t too much older than Bailee, and she wasn’t the only surprise. As it turned out, LJ had another daughter from a previous partner, though he hadn’t known about her until she was older. Her name was Lady Belmont, and he found out about her right around the time Billie got pregnant.
Lady was over there, too, playing with the kids. Well, she was chasing after them. She was a little older than me and my friends and definitely had become a part of our crazy family over the years.
It was hard for us not to love Lady. She was driven and smart and something of a celebrity; she was an influencer and came from an esteemed family.
Noticing us all staring, Lady waved at us guys. She was really tight with Aspen and worked with her on quite a few projects in the glitz-and-glam world they both came from. Lady worked at a lifestyle magazine too, amongst other projects.
“Kids are a blast,” Wells said. He waved over at Bailee, and she waved so hard back. She was frickin’ adorable, my niece. Wells tilted a drink toward Wolf and Dorian. “What about you two fuckers? Kids anytime soon?”
“Hey, Wolf just tied the knot,” I said, bumping another laugh. Wolf said nothing, but he did smile as he took a drink. My mouth opened. “No way.”
Had this fucker already knocked up Fawn? I couldn’t believe it, but Wolf didn’t bother hiding his grin behind his drink when he lowered it.
His shoulders lifted. “She’s due in the winter.”
“Dude!” I said, grabbing his hand. This must have been news to everyone, because Wells and Bru did the same. Wells actually jumped up, and Wolf waved his hand.
“We haven’t told everyone yet,” Wolf said, his voice low, and, even though we were subtle about it now, we all shook his hand and gave him hugs. I was sure the sudden burst of male affection probably looked weird from the outside, but who the fuck cared?
“Another Legacy baby,” Bru said, laughing when he hugged Wolf. “Congrats, brother. You’re going to be a great dad.”
“Thanks, bro.” Wolf’s hug with Bru was extra long.
The only one who hadn’t hugged Wolf at this point was Dorian, surprisingly; he was just kind of smiling to himself. Suddenly, he pointed at Wolf.
“You say she’s due in the winter?” Dorian said. “What month?”