H is for Hawk (Men of ALPHAbet Mountain)

I was falling even more in love with him than I thought possible before now. As he signed the last page of the forms they handed him, the judge announced he had been granted guardianship, and we cheered. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him tightly to me. I kissed him on his cheek, and he moved his head so our lips locked. Then I leaned down to kiss Rose on the top of her head as he held her in his arms.

“I am so proud of you,” I said. “Watching you become a little family with Rose is inspiring, and I think you are an amazing man for that. I love you.”

“I love you too,” he said. “But I think we should all be family.”

I smiled, feeling the blush go up my cheeks. We had said things like that before, always in passing like we were feeling each other out. But we’d never addressed it head-on.

“Me too,” I said.

“Then why don’t we?” he said, shifting Rose from one arm to the other, taking my hand in the process. It was like an idea was crossing his mind as his eyes grew wide and his smile grew deeper. “Why don’t we all three be a family. Starting now. Right here, right now.”

“Hawk…” I said, feeling my throat closing up. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. But was I really hearing it? Was he saying what I thought he was saying?

“Dee, we’re already at the courthouse. The judge is right there, and we have your sister and your brother-in-law here with us as witnesses already. Rose is here. Why don’t we get married? Right now.”

I felt like my face was full of cotton. I couldn’t think. I was literally stunned. No words were coming from my brain to my mouth, and I felt like my jaw was just bouncing up and down with no sound coming out. I blinked a few times, wondering when I would regain control of my own mouth.

Hawk looked at me expectantly, and I looked around. Everyone was looking at me in various positions of waiting. The judge had a smirk on his face and his glasses at the end of his nose. Malia had her hand over her mouth and gasped, and Gerry had a wide grin on his face in surprise.

“I…” I began, but the words wouldn’t come out. I was fighting unmitigated joy in my brain, and I couldn’t even respond to it.

“Deana Killen, will you marry me?” Hawk asked.

The tears began streaming down my face.

23

HAWK

I could barely believe the words came out of my mouth, but there they were. The idea hit me so suddenly, the only thing I could do was let it out into the world. It just felt so right, so perfect. I wanted Dee to be my wife and for us to have a family together, starting with Rose. There was no denying it. It was destiny.

But as soon as the words were out of my mouth, as foreign as the idea might have sounded and as hesitant as I would have been if I had given it a moment’s thought, it really was the most natural thing in the world. Dee and I had clearly always been meant to be together. It was obvious to both of us from the very beginning. It was obvious to me, no matter how much I tried to deny it, from the day I saw her in the stands watching me compete in track.

I wondered how long it had been for her since she knew she wanted that life. We had fallen so easily into the rhythm of a young married couple that I knew once we were actually legally together, not much of our routine would change. We would be just like we were. Only married. Put together in a way that no one could take apart. No one could even think they could take it apart.

Of course I wanted to marry her. She was perfect, or at least as perfect as any real person ever got. She was gorgeous there in her flowy white dress, and I thought to myself how lucky it was that she wore it to the hearing. It would make a wonderful wedding dress.

As she nodded, slowly falling into tears and into my arms, the room became loud with cheers. Even little Rose got in on the act, crying until I pulled her between the two of us and kissed her little head. She calmed after that, almost as if she knew something was up. Everything was going to be okay now. The two people who had cared for her for the last few weeks were solidifying their connection. Solidifying their partnership.

I wanted her to adopt Rose too. That was something that popped into my brain as I held her, embracing her with all the love I had in my soul. I wanted us all to be a family, not just in our own passing way of talking about it, but in reality, in legal terms. I wanted us all to be one happy family. That would require her adopting Rose at some point. Maybe even joining in on my own case, if we got married fast enough.