Everyone sat.
Alex looked at me as if asking if he should speak or I should, but I needed to do this. I needed to be the one to tell my father, so I gave Alex a small nod. The two of us stood side by side in front of them and I reached over, tangled my fingers with his. Mama B’s hand shot up, shaking and covering her smile. “Alex and I…we, um…” He brushed his thumb over the back of my hand, soothing me. The tension whooshed out of me, like he’d opened a valve. “We’re in love.”
“Are you just figuring that out?” Alex’s dad asked.
“Simon!” Mama B swatted him, but I couldn’t look at them, couldn’t take my eyes off my parents.
“I’m in love with Alex. I know it’s probably a shock to you, but I think…deep down, both of you knew. How could you not? Maybe you denied it the way I did. I was so afraid of screwing up and losing him, or ruining what we had, or…not being who you wanted me to be, that I lied to myself. I can’t do that anymore. I’m in love with him, and I’ll always be in love with him. He’s it for me.”
“Oh, sweetheart. Did you really think we’d care? This is Alex. We love him, and we love you. All we’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy,” Mom said, and I knew she meant it. “Isn’t that right, Edward?” she prompted, and her tone of voice left no doubt that she was telling Dad he better be okay with this.
Dad didn’t reply right away. He looked down, his left leg bouncing up and down. Alex’s hold on me strengthened while my chest tightened, making it hard to breathe.
“Edward?” Mama B asked.
“I love you, Dad. I do. But if you can’t handle this, that’s your problem, not ours.” Maybe this was a conversation my parents and I should’ve had on our own, and maybe I shouldn’t be saying the things I was about to say, but I couldn’t stop myself. And I didn’t want to. “I’ve spent my whole life watching the two of you be miserable with each other. I was so damn afraid that would be me as well, that if I accepted how I felt about Alex, we would turn into you, but I was setting myself up to be that miserable without him. Because I could never be happy with anyone other than him, and we will never be anything other than happy together. When I doubted it, Alex was my reminder that there is true love in this world. I won’t walk away from that for anything.”
“Jesus, Caden,” Alex said softly.
Finally, Dad raised his eyes to us. “You doubted love because of us?”
“Yes.”
Dad glanced at Alex’s parents, this embarrassment obvious when he closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. Now probably wasn’t the best time to go into too much detail. We could save that for when it was just the three of us.
When Dad turned to us, his gaze going from me, to Alex, then back to me again, I could see when he got it, when he got us.
“I’m glad you have each other, and I’m so sorry our problems have affected you so much. I’m not going to disrespect you by lying—this isn’t what I saw for you. But your happiness means more to me than that. Alex is a good man, and we’re all lucky to have him in our lives.”
They all rose to their feet then. There was more hugging and tears, and everyone—including my dad—seemed nothing but happy for us. Mama B and Alex’s dad were clearly a bit upset with my father, but hopefully they’d work it out.
When everyone settled down again, I looked at my husband and grinned. “So…I’m not sure if this is the best time to tell you guys this part too, but Alex and I are married. We got hitched in Vegas, and I went on his honeymoon with him.”
“What!” both our moms gasped, and Alex’s dad chuckled.
“You don’t do anything partway, do you, son?” mine asked.
“Nope. Not when it gets me him.”
I turned to Alex to see he’d dropped down to one knee. He held a black band in his hand that looked awfully familiar.
“Goddamn it! I was going to do that when we got home! We seriously got matching rings. How perfect are we together!”
“Caden.”
“Yeah?”
“Shut up so I can propose to you right. You can ask me to marry you too if you want. Hell, we’re already married anyway. We don’t do anything the usual way.”
“So are you going to do it, or what?” I asked.
“I’m having second thoughts.”
Everyone chuckled, and then Alex sobered. “I’ve been in love with you my whole damn life, Caden Hill. I never thought I’d be lucky enough to call you mine. You gave me the greatest gift by loving me too. Will you marry me? Again?”