Surrendering to Us (42 page)

“Whatever you say, almost future wife.”

Sloane and Ryder tagged along with us the next day when we went to visit Tate, April and the girls. A part of me couldn’t wait to see how Sloane reacted to Gracie and Fiona. It was one of those situations that was going to either go well, or be a total disaster. Vegas odds were 1:1 on which way it would go.

“So I don’t have to do anything, right? Like change diapers? Because I have a really sensitive gag reflex,” Sloane said, causing Ryder to make a choking noise that was probably suppressed laughter. “Oh grow the fuck up.”

“No, you won’t have to change diapers because both girls can use this awesome thing called a toilet. Honestly, you’re worse than I was, and that’s saying something. At least you had brothers and sisters when you were growing up to practice on,” I said.

“I avoided young children at all costs. Especially the ones I was related to.” That I knew to be true. It wasn’t that Sloane didn’t like children. I think they just freaked her out. They were messy and unpredictable and, most of all, they ruined clothing. That was their greatest drawback.

“They’re kids, not Velociraptors. What do you think they’re going to do? Destroy your perfect outfit?” Ryder said, tugging on the sleeve of her wrap blouse. She’d paired it with cropped pants and a killer pair of boots. I’d advised her not to wear large sparkly jewelry, because little hands had a tendency to go for them.

“Hey, I work hard to look this good and I don’t want it getting messed up,” she said, adjusting her top.

“I think you’d make anything look good,” Ryder said, and Sloane rolled her eyes at him, but I saw her biting back a smile.

“Should we bring anything?” Sloane asked.

“No,” Lucah and I said at the same time.

“Whoa, okay. Sorry I asked.”

Lucah turned off the highway and headed for the ‘burbs. I was actually relieved to be visiting Tate and April and the girls. Their kids didn’t ask much. All they wanted were cookies, to put glitter on my face and to wear my heels. Simple. No underhanded motives, no lying or fishing for information.

Plus, they were so happy to see me they were practically screaming. Then they saw Ryder and got even more excited. He picked both of them up and they started chattering away, pulling on his hair and begging for his attention. Lucah grabbed Fiona and started swinging her around as Tate went and got coffee for everyone.

“It’s so good to see you again, Sloane,” April said, giving her a hug. They’d bonded in the hospital and I knew they’d been keeping in touch. After they hugged, Sloane stepped back and looked her up and down. “You’re showing already.”

“What?” April’s hands went to her belly, pressing against something I couldn’t see.

“She’s not serious, if you can’t tell,” I said, giving Sloane a look. She looked again and nodded.

“You’re right. It was just the drape of your shirt. Good. That means I won’t have to alter this!” She went to the car and brought back a garment bag and presented it with a flourish.

“What is that?” April said, pointing to the bag.

“Oh, this? This would be your dress for the charity event. Tada!” There was much squealing and rejoicing over the dress and Sloane hadn’t even showed it to her yet. The girls came over and wanted to see it, so Sloane unzipped the bag and pulled it out. Short and white, it had a vintage feel with a skirt that flared out. Sloane turned it around and showed the back, where the straps crossed with a bow in the middle.

“Pretty!” Gracie yelled, reaching for it as Sloane carefully yanked it out of her reach.

“Yes, it is. Thank you so much, Sloane. I can never repay you for this,” April said.

“Don’t worry about it. I get off on this.” Sloane beamed and the girls finally noticed her and decided to be curious.

“What are they doing?” Sloane said as the girls started to inch closer and we all watched.

“Hey, Gracie Grace, why don’t you come meet Sloane?” Ryder said.

“Alone?” Gracie said, inching closer and leaning on Ryder’s knee. Fiona toddled over and stared at Sloane as if she was a being from another planet.

“No, sweetie. Sloane,” I said. “She’s my friend.”

“Fwend?” Fiona said, looking up at me.

“That’s right. My friend.” Fiona inched forward and touched Sloane.

“What is she doing?” Sloane was just as unsure of them as they were of her. I wished someone would video this encounter.

“My God, Sloane, you’re ridiculous.” I put my hands out to Fiona, picked her up and put her in Sloane’s lap.

“Pretty,” Fiona said, pointing to Sloane’s earrings. Fiona had done the same thing to me when I’d first met her.

“Be gentle, Fi,” Tate said, coming back with the coffee. “Remember how we talked about being gentle?”

“Gentle,” Fiona repeated, stroking Sloane’s hair as Sloane tried to smile like she wasn’t totally panicking.

“I want to see!” Gracie said, climbing onto Ryder’s lap and then going for Sloane’s.

“Whoa, be nice to Sloane, Gracie. She’s a little scared,” Ryder said, winking at Sloane.

“I’m sorry, I’m not very good with kids,” Sloane said to Tate and April.

“Neither was I, before I had them,” April said. “I’m the youngest, and I avoided any and all babysitting jobs. I’ll be honest that I’m still not a huge fan of other people’s kids, but mine are pretty awesome.” I had to agree with her. Gracie and Fiona had very studious looks on their faces as they stared at Sloane. She stared back at them and then she slowly crossed her eyes.

It only took a moment for them to start giggling. They loved people who could cross their eyes and had been trying to do it, but had never managed to make it happen.

The ice was officially broken and Sloane became the girls’ new favorite person. She got more excited than they did when Barbies were brought out, along with all their clothes and accessories.

“I think she’s abandoned you,” I said to Ryder as Sloane got down on the floor with Gracie and Fiona to take the clothes off and put them back on the dolls. It was a miniature version of what she did all day.

“For children and plastic dolls that are anatomically incorrect.” He shook his head, but he was smiling.

I sipped my coffee and sat back against Lucah’s arm. After the absolutely horrible afternoon I’d had, this was perfection.

“So Rory and I have an announcement,” Lucah said, interrupting all of the conversations around us.

“Uh, we do?” I said, wondering that the hell he was talking about. Sure, we’d talked about getting married last night, but that couldn’t be it . . .

“Yes,” Lucah said, giving me a look. This was one of those times when he was trying to send me a signal and our wires were crossed. It had happened more when we’d first gotten together, but it had been a while.

“Don’t keep us in suspense,” Sloane said, looking up from the Barbies for the first time since they’d be brought out.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” I said, getting up and trying to drag Lucah to the kitchen so I could ask him what the hell he was doing.

“No, I have to make my announcement first,” he said, not budging.

“What are you doing to me right now?” I hissed, fully aware that we were doing this in front of everyone. He ignored me and grabbed my hand even though I tried to keep it away from him.

“We would like to announce that we are moving in together.” His pronouncement was met with silence. Mostly because, uh, everyone already knew we’d moved in together. I smacked him on the arm.

“Spoiler alert: we already knew that,” Sloane said. “You jerk, I thought you were going to tell us you were getting married.” I looked at Lucah.

“Nope, not yet,” he said. “Not right now.”

“Not right now,” I agreed. At least, not at this very second. Tomorrow? The next day? We’d have to wait and see.

Another night, another gown. Only this time there were no steps to swoop down, but Lucah had helped me swoop out of the elevator in dramatic fashion. The dress was even more spectacular than I’d imagined and flowed around me like waves of red silk. It also happened to match the ring that was now a permanent member of my right hand. But my favorite part of the evening was seeing the three Blythe men in their tuxes, smiling and laughing at a shared joke. I got out my phone from the tiny clutch purse Sloane had let me borrow, and took a picture, just to immortalize it. I was going to make a print of it and add it to the photo album I’d started.

Marisol had outdone herself. The venue had a vintage feel, harkening back to the fifties and early sixties, and even the drinks served were from the era. It was like stepping into a black and white movie, but everything was in Technicolor. The majority of the guests were older, and I saw quite a few friends of my parents. They’d had another engagement, or they would have been here.

Poor April didn’t get her wine, but Tate put her cranberry juice in a wineglass and told her to pretend, because this was one of the only nights out they were going to get for a long time.

My other favorite moment was when Marisol took the stage to thank everyone for coming and a voice called out her name, and proceeded to take the stage holding a dozen yellow roses (her favorite) as she covered her mouth and started to cry.

“Did you know he was going to surprise her?” Lucah said in my ear as Mari took the roses from Fin and gave him a kiss that made the entire audience clap and cheer.

“No, I had no idea. That sneaky bastard.” After the two lovebirds exited the stage, they made their way back over to us.

“Way to set the bar too high for the rest of us,” Lucah called out to Fin as I gave him a hug.

“I can’t believe you pulled that off,” I said as he lifted me off my feet. I was so beyond happy to see him.

“It wasn’t easy. I actually enlisted the help of your mother, if you can believe that. Now that she’s given up on me being her son-in-law, she’s been surprisingly supportive of my current relationship.” He glanced over his shoulder at Marisol, who was being mopped up by Chloe and Sloane.

“She’s been very supportive of mine as well,” I said, jabbing Lucah in the ribs with my elbow and making him wince. “You look really good, Fin.” He did. His suit actually fit his tall frame, and cut in all the right places. Marisol was a lucky woman. She came over and couldn’t stop giggling as Fin gave her another kiss and then dragged her away so they could dance.

“We can’t let them show us up on the dance floor, can we?” Lucah said, taking my hand and leading me to the space in front of the tables that was cleared for dancing. Marisol had found a replacement band, and I didn’t know what the original had sounded like, but the replacements were fabulous, playing the old standards mixed with some newer songs so they could please the diverse crowd.

The rest of our crew followed behind Lucah and me. Tate and April, who looked stunning in her white dress; Ryder and Sloane, who looked like a walking silver screen siren in rose gold and then Chloe in green with one of her male coworkers (who also happened to be gay, but went with her to formal events as her heterosexual beard).

The band struck up a new song, and after a second I realized it was a slower version of “Royals” by Lorde. It took me back to the first ball and how I’d been so happy to dance with Lucah. I’d been bursting with so much happiness and love I didn’t think it could grow any more.

But it had. I adored him even more than I did on that night. And a year from now I’d probably love him more, and the year after that and so on. Forever.

“I can’t wait to marry you, Miss Clarke. Or should I say, future Mrs. Blythe,” Lucah said in my ear as we waltzed to the non-traditional song.

“Mrs. Blythe,” I said, testing out the name. My potential name. I didn’t know how I felt about it. I’d been Rory Clarke for my entire life. I didn’t know how to be anyone else. Lucah had the luxury of trying different identities on. I was sure if he really wanted to, he could become anyone. But I would always be Rory Clarke.

“Or maybe you want to keep your name?” Lucah said after a few beats of silence. He’d done it again, read my mind.

“How about we compromise?” I said moving my hand up his neck and tugging a tiny bit on the hair on the back of his head. “How does Mrs. Clarke-Blythe sound?” Rory Clarke-Blythe. Yes. I could be her.