Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Yup, Gray’s eyes welled up as if on cue, because that was a painful image.
“I’m not lonely anymore,” Darius continued uncomfortably. So Gray squeezed his hands and stepped closer. It’s just you and me here, baby. Darius smiled faintly. “Thanks to you and our children, I get to have a future worth fighting for. I want every morning chore I get to share with Jayden, every breakfast on the porch, every funny face Justin and I make behind your back—”
Gray laughed and sniffled.
Darius smiled and touched his cheek. “I love you with everything I am, knucklehead. And…” He cleared his throat again. “With you, I don’t have to hide anything.” He took a step back and turned toward Ryan and Avery, who handed him something. A notebook? “It hit me a while back that I don’t need anyone but you to understand me—and what I feel for you. So the vows I spent two years working on, they’re all in here. I had my notebook printed. Every thought, every attempt at finding the right words, every unfiltered truth. Some grocery lists too,” he chuckled. “It’s possible Justin spilled on a couple pages.”
“I drawed an apple tree also, Daddy,” Justin called out.
“I started drawing a snake, but I wasn’t happy with it,” Jayden added.
“Even Cassidy contributed,” Darius said.
Gray shook his head, completely overwhelmed, and he accepted the notebook. And he felt such a forceful urge to just make things official already, so he turned to the officiant and blurted out, “Can you declare us husbands now? I’m ready. Like, make it happen.” He handed the notebook to Abel for safekeeping.
“We might wanna do the rings first.” Darius was seemingly in a rush too, and he turned around to get the rings from Ryan. “So, do we just…?”
The officiant looked a little startled but recovered quickly, and he smiled merrily and inclined his head in answer to Darius’s question. “Dear friends and family, beloved Gray and Darius, as you exchange rings and commit to spending the rest of your lives together, by the power vested in me, it is my absolute joy to pronounce you husbands.”
Gray exhaled shakily as the words rushed through him, at the same time as Darius slid a new gold band on to his finger.
Husbands.
Gray eagerly slipped the other ring on to Darius’s finger.
“You may kiss, gentlemen.”
We absofuckinglutely may, padre.
Darius cupped Gray’s face in his hands and dipped down and kissed him hard, and Gray felt like a fucking fool for not being able to stop smiling. They’d freaking done it.
“Oh my God,” Gray mumbled. Oh my God. He flipped forward once more.
Marry me, knucklehead.
“Oh my God,” he repeated and shot straight up from the chair. Was this fucking happening? Now? Right here and now? He quickly grabbed his phone from the little kitchen counter and stalked out of the room, where he immediately came to an abrupt stop and was knocked back by a wall of surprise.
Darius stood there. He rested his forearms on the countertop and smiled faintly.
“You—” Gray couldn’t find his words. He held up the Kindle instead, where Darius could read the words for himself.
“Oh… It looks like I’m proposing,” he murmured. Then he held up one hand and showed two gold bands pinched between his fingers. “What do you say, Gray? Wanna spend eternity with me?”
Those words brought a full-fledged grin to Gray’s face, and he hurriedly closed the distance and kissed Darius hard. The Kindle landed on the counter, and he was pretty sure he heard his mother squeal out on the porch.
“Eternity sounds good.”
“On behalf of Mary and James Quinn, and Chloe and Aiden Roe, we present you Darius and Gray Quinn!”
Gray melted into the kiss as they were met with applause and sharp whistles.
“No looking back now, knucklehead,” Darius whispered.
“Looking back is for people with regrets,” Gray whispered in response. “I don’t have a single one.”
Darius smiled into the kiss and flicked the tip of his tongue against Gray’s. “I love you, baby.”
“Now, Uncle Ryan?” Justin yelled.
Oh God.
Darius rumbled a chuckle. “I saw this coming from a mile away. We’re about to be assaulted by a million fuckin’ soap bubbles.”
Gray let out a laugh.
“We’re a go, kids!” Ryan confirmed.
“We’re out.” Darius quickly grabbed Gray’s hand, and the two picked up the pace to escape the terror. On the way, Darius snatched up Cass to use her as a human shield, and he told Jayden, Ace, and Abby, “There’s five bucks for anyone who switches sides to help Gray and me bring Uncle Ryan down.”
The trio could not agree faster, but Ryan had assistance from several of the grown-up guests too. As Gray jumped into action at his husband’s side, obviously by snatching up their goofball Justin, Isla and Gabriel flashed their signature grins and started blowing soap bubbles their way. Only to be followed by Gideon, freakin’ Mom, Adeline, Brady from high school and his sister, Aurora—the list of traitors grew endless.