Rose
It’s been a week since I slept with Win, bit him, and cemented that my future is here, in Rios, with Murph, Win, and Joel.
He walked around with the biggest grin on his face until the bite faded, so big that I bit him again when we slept together. I’m not sure if I’ll keep doing it, but if it makes him that happy, I probably will.
We’ve laughed and hung out together, made love, and finished renovating the dining room, which we’ll probably turn into a game room since we all love eating in the kitchen so much, and it makes cleanup so easy. The attic remains a dumping ground that we’re all actively avoiding.
We’ve talked a lot about the future, including Ben starting school in the fall and our pack name.
A pack takes its name from the most dominant alpha.
In my parents' case, that was Bryan. I became Rose Hayes when I bonded with Simon. Our pack name will probably be Owens, since Murph is the most dominant alpha, but none of us are in a hurry to start changing our names. We have enough on our plate right now, including one thing that Win, Murph, and Joel keep avoiding talking to me about: the house they can’t afford.
I clear my throat. “So, I’ve been thinking.”
The three men at the dining table immediately tense up.
Even though we’ve spent the last week planning our future, laughing, watching movies, making love, and bonding, they stare at me as if bracing themselves for me to say I’ve changed my mind about us.
“About?” Joel asks warily, nudging his half-eaten bacon and eggs aside.
Murph’s hand tightens around his mug of hot coffee before he sets it down and pushes it away as if he doesn’t want anything fragile nearby.
Win just watches me, quieter and more serious than he usually is.
In the living room, the distant sounds of a cartoon on low are a distraction I set up for Ben so we could have this important conversation without his interruption. I’ve gotten up twice to make sure he is actually in there and not eavesdropping at the door.
“I’m buying this house,” I announce.
When no one says anything for three beats, I figure they’re in shock, so I continue. “Ben has this terrible habit of eavesdropping on private conversations. He got it from me. I used to do the same thing when I was a kid. It drove my parents mad.”
“So… Ben heard something?” Murph says, his expression unreadable.
I nod. “Y’all told me you bought this house to flip, but you didn’t tell me you changed your mind about selling but couldn’t afford to keep living here. I want to buy it.”
"No," Joel says firmly. “We won't ask you to do that, and we don’t expect you to. We’ll find another way to keep the house."
So that’s why they kept changing the subject whenever I brought up the house: they were struggling to find a solution and didn’t want me to know.
“Like what?” I ask.
No one says a word.
Shifting in my seat, I reach into my pocket and pull out a piece of paper, unfold it, and lay it on the table. I rub my palm over it to smooth out as many of the creases as I can, then push it toward them. “That’s what’s in my savings account right now.”
Win, Joel, and Murph lean toward the statement, with its many, many zeroes. It’s not quite a million, but it’s pretty damn close.
Their expressions range from shock to disbelief and a combination of the two.
“I spent a couple of days checking out house prices in the area, including in and around downtown Rios. I could buy this house outright and still have six figures in savings for emergencies. Or was my research wrong?”
Joel shakes his head, and his voice is strained when he says, “You’re not wrong.”
I point to the figure at the bottom of the statement.
“I sold the house that Simon and I bought in Weldon. It was full of so much happiness and joy that I couldn’t stay there after he died.
Simon and I took out life insurance policies when we had Ben.
Neither of us expected the worst to happen, but we didn’t want the other to struggle if it ever did. That’s why that number is so big.”
“That’s money for your future,” Murph says quietly, pushing the statement back toward me. “Not for buying a house because you feel—”
“That Ben and I have a future with you in Rios, and because I love you?” I gently cut in.
He sits back in his seat, crossing his arms and studying me through hooded eyes. “It’s a big decision, Rose, is what I’m trying to say.”
“Which is why I took my time making it,” I counter.
He holds my gaze for a beat, then closes his eyes and tilts his head back, pointing his face up to the ceiling. “I don’t know what to say.”
“I think she wants us to say yes,” Win says, stunned. “But I just don’t… I don’t understand how—”
“How I can want to build a life with three men who make me this happy and love my son as if he were their own?” I ask. “You really can’t understand that?”
A tiny smile tugs at the corners of Murph’s mouth. “Came ready for battle, huh, sweetheart?”
I grin. “I knew you would have some arguments and probably wouldn’t accept right away, so I’m prepared to fight dirty if I have to.”
Joel tilts his head to the side. “What does fighting dirty look like?”
Leaning back from the table, I shout, “Ben! Can you come here for a second?”
“I fold,” Win says immediately.
“Me too,” Joel says.
“Me three,” Murph adds.
“Really?” I ask, stunned that they agreed so fast as Ben wanders into the kitchen, still in his pajamas, looking adorably confused.
“That’s a pretty big gun to unleash on three unsuspecting guys who love this guy to death,” Win says, grinning at Ben.
“Like taking a tank to a knife fight,” Joel adds with a smile.
“Mommy, who’s fighting a tank?” Ben asks.
I laugh. “No one’s fighting a tank, baby. Come here.” I hold out my arms, and he crosses over and settles into my lap. “How do you feel about buying this house and living with Win, Joel, and Murph?”
“YAY!”
“Oof!” I wheeze, winded by a sharp elbow to my side as he flings both arms up.
Honestly, lifting him onto my lap before I asked him such an exciting question was not the best idea I’ve ever had.
Once my eyes are no longer watering and Win, Joel, and Murph have stopped asking if I’m okay, Murph says to Ben, "We’ll never try to replace your dad, okay?"
Ben nods. "I know."
"Your dad loved you very much, and that love will never go away. But we—" Joel motions to Murph and Win. "We all want to be there for you and your mom, and to build a different kind of family. We love you, too."
“I know,” Ben says. “Instead of a daddy, I’ll have a Win, Joel, and Murph.”
I kiss the top of his head.
Ben wiggles in my lap. “Can I go watch cartoons, Mommy?”
I release him. “Ten more minutes, then we’re getting you dressed for the day, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.” He walks out, and I turn back to Win, Joel, and Murph.
“One condition,” Murph says firmly. “We’ll meet with a lawyer to draft a contract that makes it clear the money goes back to you first if we ever sell. That’s non-negotiable. That money is as much for Ben’s future as it is for yours.”
Joel and Win nod in agreement.
“I can agree to that,” I say.
Joel shifts his gaze between us, both excited and nervous. “So we don’t have to sell?”
“Nope,” I grin. “But I need to warn you about my family before they come to town.” I hesitate. “My dads are kind of a lot.”
When I told them I was staying in Rios and planned to come back to Weldon to pack up mine and Ben’s stuff, my dads refused to consider any option other than taking a few days off work, picking up a U-Haul, loading it up, and making the drive to Rios.
No matter how much I argued with them, their minds were made up.
“What do you mean?” Murph asks.
“They will ask a lot of invasive questions and hug you so hard that you fear for your ribs, but they will mean well.”
“I’m a firefighter; there’s not much I can’t handle,” Joel says with the smiling ignorance of a man about to learn a lesson he will never forget.
“Dad! Leave Joel alone!” I yell for the third time.
My family descended on us one mild Thursday early afternoon, and our home hasn’t been the same since.
They came in two packed cars and one stuffed U-Haul that they drove from Memphis to Iowa.
They came with the life I packed up when Simon died, and I left it in storage in my parents' garage, unsure whether I would ever find another place that felt like home again.
My dads have taken a tag-team approach to helping unload the U-Haul while cornering Win, Joel, and Murph and dragging out personal information from them. They do it with a smile, but there is no escaping their invasive questions.
“We’re just getting to know each other a little better,” my dad, Bryan, says with a wide, toothy smile I don’t trust for a second.
“You have him literally cornered in the kitchen.” I wrap my arm around Joel’s waist and lead him to safety, determined to keep a closer eye on him this time. “Come on, Joel. You’ll be safe with me.”
He grins down at me. “I really like this overprotective side of you, and you coming to save me. It’s almost worth being asked how old I was when I lost my virginity.”
I wince.
Why my dad felt the need to know that is beyond me. I don’t even want to ask.
“I shouldn’t have to keep saving you.” I turn to glare at my dad and find him smiling. Why would he be… My footsteps slow as realization hits. “You’ve been doing it on purpose.”
Dad steps around me and drops a kiss on my temple. “Just needed to be sure this is what you truly want. And it’s clear you do. You haven’t glared at me that hard since I put your doll’s dress in a hot wash and shrunk it.”
“That was unforgivable,” I accuse.
He hums. “It was, but you got three new outfits out of it.”
“Well…” I sniff. “My feelings were hurt, and Tabitha needed replacements.”
Dad chuckles. “Six years old, and she bartered over those outfits like a New York shark lawyer. I got her down from seven outfits, but it was not easy.” He winks at Joel. “We were all terrified she’d go to law school.”