My Brother’s Best Friends

“Yes! I want it all. I want to go home. I want the same thing now that I wanted ten years ago. I want forever with the three of you. And this baby.” I caressed my stomach and blinked back more tears. “I’m going to be a good mom and partner. I have some bad news, though.”

Charlie lowered the ring and raised his eyebrows. “What?”

“I lost a bet to Russ when we were kids. He’s supposed to get to name my first kid. Whatever he chooses. And if I refuse, he gets to transfer the win to anything else he wants.” I winced. “I would say it isn’t a big deal, but you know Russ. And now we’ve given him a reason to be mean.”

August lifted Charlie’s hand and growled. “We’ll beat the shit out of that bridge when we get to it. Take the damn ring, woman. We’ve got about twenty minutes before you start upchucking again and I’d like to kiss the hell out of you after you put our ring on your finger.”

I lifted my hand for the ring, beaming with happiness, but just before they could slip it on my finger, the back of my mouth soured. Trying to fight it, I pressed my lips together and pushed my finger out farther.

“Jesus, you just went green. Out of the way, everyone!” Theo, who might’ve been having too much fun as vomiting director, lifted me and put me in front of the toilet after lifting the lid. “We’ll revisit the ring later, yeah?”

Before I threw up, I held up my thumb. “Yes, please.”