Complete We (A Her Billionaires Novella #4) (19 page)

“Yes, we can,” Dylan said firmly, eyes firm and loving. “The real marriage is the one the three of us forge together.” And with that, he kissed her, Jillian’s little fingers slipping into her hair, her babbles a sweet backdrop to the taste of her one true love.

Her
other
one true love interrupted them with hands on her shoulders, his sun-kissed hair pressing into the family crowd. “That’s
my
wife you’re kissing,” Mike said with a mock growl, dropping the jokes as he turned Laura toward him and slipped the ring on her trembling hand. It fit perfectly.

Her arms slipped around his neck and his kiss tasted like love and dreams, his hands like anchors and tethers, Dylan’s arms enveloping them both until Jillian said, “Top it! Top it!” and the three broke apart, breathless with glee.

“This wasn’t the first proposal I’ve ever seen here at Jeddy’s. Not even the first time I’ve ever seen two guys propose to the same girl in one day. But I’ll be damned if I’ve ever seen two men propose to the same woman and have them all marry each other!” Madge crowed. “That deserves a big meal, on the house!”

Madge turned to Alex and said with a half-grin, “Same for you too, sport. When you decide to make a decent woman out of Josie, I’ll give you whatever you want.”

The look on Josie’s face made Laura’s joy fade.

She’d never seen Josie look so
sad
.

When she’d seen the ring in Alex’s pocket, her first thought had been horror. Mind-grinding terror that made everything in her seize up.

And then she realized how fucking
fake
that was.

She wasn’t really terrified to marry Alex. She was afraid of
wanting
to marry Alex. Those were two completely different emotions, and being able to distinguish between them was critical.

Had she really just developed a
habit
of freaking out at the idea of marriage? Trained her mind to think she didn’t want to marry Alex, when in fact, she did?

And desperately so?

While she’d been shocked to hold that ring in her hands and think it was from him, and that he was about to propose, what had been more shocking was having it removed by Mike. Learning that the ring wasn’t for her. Comprehending that Alex had just been carrying it for Mike and Alex wasn’t planning to ask her to marry him.

Her heart felt like someone had chainsawed it out of her chest.

She had no right to feel like this. None. Pushing Alex away because of her fear of commitment had practically become the Official Josie Mendham National Sport. She could have her own flag and uniform, if she kept it up like this. If anyone deserved the one-two punch of finding that box in his pocket and having it turn out to be for someone else, it was Josie.

So why was she so distraught?

Clamming up and shutting down was her default. As time passed, though, and she became more comfortable and trusting of Alex, she found that withdrawing emotionally didn’t work. It was no longer a sanctuary. Building an emotional fortress around herself didn’t help.

Didn’t work.

In fact, it caused more damage than good, and left her with an ache for those long, strong arms that were a better wall than anything she could ever create.

Sensing this, Alex walked across the room as the fellow diners cheered for Laura, Mike, and Dylan. Her eyes tracked his smooth movement across the linoleum floor, how his legs carried him toward her with such confidence. Assurance.

Permanence.

“You are not okay,” he whispered as one arm reached around her for an embrace, the other cradling her jaw, fingers light and gentle against the back of her head, her ear tickled by the long surgeon’s hand.

“How’d you guess?”

“You look like you wish you had ruby slippers and could click the heels furiously.”

“I think I’d rather have a house fall on me. I’m more the Wicked Witch type and less the Dorothy type,” she joked, but a sob caught in her throat and ruined her ruse.

“It’s fine,” he said soothingly in her ear. “The tears are normal. They happen to women in your…women like…” The stumbling over his words was odd. Alex didn’t generally—

Wait.

Women in your
what
?

“Women like…?” She drew out the question, pulling back to look into eyes that radiated so much love she thought she might go blind.

His palm flattened against her belly. “In your condition.” He bent down and kissed her cheek, a small bit of wetness registering in her mind. When he pulled back, she saw why.

A single tear had fallen from those loving eyes.

“Condition?” she choked out, completely confused. What condition?

Now his eyes clouded slightly, the confusion shared. “You, um…” His gaze turned to the booth. “You had a bag of tests next to you, and one fell out. You’re pregnant—or think you are, right? I’m going to be a dad.” The tears in his eyes filled in, and the expression on his face made her feel like a goddess. A slow caress from ribs to belly button made her melt in place.

Or maybe that was simply shock.

“PREGNANT?” she shrieked, laughing and crying at the same time. He thought she was pregnant? One half of her mind registered his dismay as her words and braying giggles hit him. Oh, shit. Alex
wanted
her to be pregnant?

The other half realized his dismay matched her own—over the ring.

She
wanted
him to propose.

His hands tightened on her body, pulling her closer, yet his face was a mask of an attempt to cover up the churning ocean of emotion inside him. Josie could feel it. See it.

And hated herself for doing this to him.

“You’re not pregnant?” His hand withdrew from her belly. She missed it instantly.

“No, Alex,” she answered with a weak smile. “Laura is.”

“Oh.”

His single-word reply felt like a gunshot.

“And that ring wasn’t for me,” she said, trying so hard not to say the words, scrambling inside her emotional core to cover the resentment she felt that he hadn’t planned to propose.

His head snapped back with surprise. “No—I thought you didn’t want to get married!” His voice grew progressively louder at the end of the sentence, the word “married” carrying through the room.

Laura, Mike, Dylan, and Madge all turned to look at them.

“I never said that,” she replied in a low voice. “I just wasn’t ready…now.”

“Your
now
and my
now
are about a thousand years apart,” he cracked. The sarcasm was new for him. Suddenly, it seemed Alex could build walls, too.

Josie had two choices, and, as more eyes fell on her and Alex, she felt time slip into a slower pace, her heart acutely aware of each microsecond, of how Alex’s soul was closing off to her, and she chose the path that made her most vulnerable.

Most trusting.

Most raw.

“No,” she rasped, looking him in the eye, the world around them turning to a blur. “Our nows are in sync. If that ring had been for me, if you had intended to propose, that would have made me very, very happy.”

Watching Alex respond to her words was like seeing winter turn to spring in triple time, hope blossoming on his face, in his skin, infused in the way his muscles altered their grip on her.

“You—really?” The incredulity in his voice made her smile.

“Yes. Really.” The heat of his body against hers filled her with everything she ever needed.

Until he dropped, suddenly, on one knee before her.

Laura, Mike, Dylan, Jillian, and Madge edged closer, now less than two yards away, their eyes the only thing Josie could see in her peripheral vision. She saw Laura reach up and grab Dylan’s bicep, registered Jillian’s wiggliness and Madge’s keen sense of attention.

“Josephine Elizabeth Mendham, I…” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I wish I had a ring for this.”

Madge stepped closer and tapped him on his shoulder, making Josie look at the old woman. Alex turned to her, befuddled.

When Madge spoke, her voice was thick with emotion, one wrinkled finger pointing to the other hand. “Here.” Madge worked to pull a ring off her finger, carefully passing it to a dazed Alex. Madge put her hands on Alex’s shoulders and bent over to whisper face to face. Josie heard every word.

“Eddie told me a long time ago that I am his memory now, Alex.” Madge cleared her throat, and tears grew fat on the lower edge of her eyes, spilling over as she continued. “This was your grandmother’s ring. Eddie gave it to me and told me that he wanted the first grandchild who married to have it.”

Josie looked at the simple diamond ring, a single marquis-cut stone buried in a thin silver band.

Alex’s jaw tightened, and Josie saw his throat move as he struggled to maintain composure, eyes flipping from the ring now in his hand to Madge’s tearful face.

“Thank you,” he whispered, eyes searching Madge’s face. “I…I remember the ring… Grandma wore it through everything, even when she gardened or washed the dishes. I didn’t know Grandpa wanted it to go to—”

Madge smiled, the movement making tears travel down her cheek and neck, wetting her uniform’s collar. “Now you do.” She turned to Josie and gave her a huge hug, whispering, “And now the ring is in the rightful woman’s hands.”

Josie joined in the waterworks as Madge pulled away and made a grand gesture with her arm.

“What the hell are you waiting for, kiddo?” Madge asked Alex, nudging him with her knee. “The lady is waiting!”

Mike fished a handkerchief out of his back pocket and handed it to Laura. Josie wanted to say something, to do something, but when her eyes met Alex’s again she just—

He was the only person there.

“Will you, Josie, be my wife?” He held the ring out in the soft palm of his hand, the diamond glittering like a beacon.
Go toward the light, Josie. Go toward the light.

“Yes!” she gasped. He reached for her left hand and slid the ring on her finger, the band too loose yet, somehow, just perfect.

Dr. and Mrs. Perfect.

More cheers filled the room, and Madge announced that cake was on the house for everyone. Laura bum-rushed Josie with a hug, the two descending into giggles and tears, finally just jumping up and down in place screaming, “Can you believe it?” over and over.

Mike, Dylan, and Alex all shook each other’s hands and grinned like fools.

Jillian screamed, “Mama! Mama!” until finally, Laura had to leave Josie, who was quickly scooped up into a kiss that made her toes tingle, her future husband looking like the most incredible soul in the world.

Because he was.

“How about a double wedding?” Laura asked, Jillian now in her arms.

“You
have
a double wedding,” Josie joked, pointing to Mike and Dylan.

“Ha ha. I mean it,” Laura said, her face flushed with happiness. “We could have something private. Away from cameras. Combine our fun.”

“We can’t seem to shake you two anyhow, and Josie’s practically joined to Laura at the hip,” Dylan said dryly.

Alex squeezed her hand. “I’m game for anything. We can elope, run off to Vegas, do the big church wedding in Ohio—”

“Dear God, no,” Josie moaned. “No Ohio.”

“Okay…but my mom has to be there. She’ll kill me if I get married without her,” Alex explained.

“We need a place in the woods,” Mike said adamantly. “Lots of nature. Peaceful, and out of the way.”

Madge shepherded them into the biggest booth in the place, grabbing a high chair for Jillian. As Laura clicked the baby in place and fished through the diaper bag for cereal, her new ring nearly blinded Josie. By comparison, her own ring was tiny.

But there was no comparison.

Ever.

“I have a huge, extended family,” Alex warned.

“Me, too,” Dylan said sheepishly, with the perma-grin shared by all three men. Josie wanted to laugh, but this humming feeling, like she was being run by an electric current of love, made her gooey and soft inside.

She liked it.

“My family is tiny,” Josie said, thinking. “Darla. Aunt Cathy.”

“Don’t forget your mom,” Laura said, then winced, throwing her hands up defensively. “Don’t hate me for mentioning her!”

“I know.” Josie sighed and looked at Alex. “You’ll have to meet her eventually.”

Alex kissed her temple. “I’m sure I’ll love her.”

Josie gave him an exaggerated once-over. “And she will love you. In all the wrong ways.”

“My only family is Frank, and he’s certainly not invited,” Laura said. “So I have no one coming.”

Mike and Dylan instinctively hugged her, the pile of arms and heads adorable.

“We’re your family now,” they said in unison.

“Besides, I don’t have any family coming, either,” Mike added.

“We need a wedding place that can handle extended family, is in the woods, and isn’t too far from a major airport,” Dylan declared as he pulled back. “That’s a challenge.”