Stone Cold - Ashby Crime Family

“I love you, and I’m ready.”

That was good enough to me. I sent a nod Ma’s way.

“Quiet everyone. Calvin has an announcement to make.”

“Great,” Terry groaned. “Now we’ll all have to update our passwords.”

“Again,” Jasper added, both of them snickering like little girls.

“Assholes,” I growled around a smile. Nobody could get under your skin like brothers, blood be damned.

“Thanks, everyone, for indulging the change in Sunday dinner, but it’s for a good reason, I promise.”

Beside me, Bonnie stood and twined her hand with mine, giving it a small supportive squeeze.

“You’re doing great, babe.”

I thought about going into all the dirty details of the rocky road that led us to this point, to share the ups and downs of my journey with Bonnie so these people who meant the world to me would understand just how monumental our love was. But it didn’t matter if they understood; this was our love and that was enough.

“I asked Bonnie to be my wife and she said yes.”

Kat let out a laugh. “Hear that Ma? Two weddings to plan,” she said with joy in her voice. “Congratulations to you, little brother. Little sister.” Then she raised a glass and reached out to squeeze Bonnie’s hand.

“Thank you, Kat.” Her voice cracked, and I could tell Bonnie was overwhelmed with emotions from Kat’s easy acceptance.

Slowly, Ma stood up, a towering figure at the head of the table, a triumphant smile on her face.

“Congratulations, Calvin and Bonnie. I knew you two would figure it out. Eventually.” She came over behind us, placing a kiss on my cheek and then Bonnie’s. “Enjoy this. You deserve it,” she whispered. “More daughters. Just what I’ve always wanted.”

“Thanks, Ma,” Virgil, grunted as he and Maisie followed her lead to offer hugs and words of congratulations.

Bonnie and Maisie whispered animatedly for a few minutes before hugging again and then making room for more congratulations.

“Welcome to the family, Bonnie. Do as I say always and you’ll be fine.” Jasper flashed a playful smile that caught her off guard for a moment.

“I’ll try to remember that for my vows. Jasper is the boss. Always.”

He wrapped her in a hug. “I approve, Cal. Congrats, guys.”

Terry and Emmet, even Thomas offered up their well wishes, fist bumps, and bear hugs. Thomas, of course, stood out by handing Bonnie a colorful sparkling ginger ale with a wink.

“So glad you worked everything out, Ms. Byrne.”

“Thank you, Thomas,” she said on a blush. “And thanks for your advice.”

He gave a tight smile and moved on, giving Bonnie time to take a breath after dealing with just the small inner circle of the much bigger Ashby family. I gave her hand a squeeze and waited until Thomas took his spot beside Ma before I spilled the rest of the news. “And we’re having a baby!”

“Holy shit, baby bro. You don’t waste any time, do ya?” Kat raised her glass high in the air. “To the next generation of Ashbys! May they live long, prosper harder, and have far less fucked up childhoods!”

A laugh erupted from Bonnie, startling the room into silence, but she just laughed and laughed, holding her champagne flute of ginger ale high in the air.

“A toast perfectly fitting this union. Cheers!” Bonnie said before taking a small sip. She turned to me with love shining in her eyes. “I love you, Calvin Ashby.”

“Love you more,” I told her and pressed a quick kiss to her lush pink mouth.

“Grandchildren,” Sadie said on a wistful sigh.

“You’re gonna be a grandma,” Maisie said, full of glee. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you, Maisie,” she said absently and turned to Bonnie and me with a serious expression on her face. “Anything you need. Anything.”

“Thanks, Ma. We appreciate it.”

“More than anything,” Bonnie added, close to tears.

“Thank fuck,” Jasper growled. “it’s the hormones. I thought maybe you were afraid of me.” He winked at Bonnie who rolled her eyes.

“Trembling in my ballet flats.”

In that moment, I knew that Bonnie would be just fine. She’d be a perfect addition to the family, giving as good as she got the same way Kat did. As soon as she believed it, she would have more family than she knew what to do with. Jasper stood and raised his glass.

“To Cal and Bonnie!”

“To Cal and Bonnie!”

The words came out in a loud echo from everyone in the room, genuinely happy smiles all around. After weeks, hell, months of shit from Ronan and Brendan and The Crusaders, we had this moment. This moment of happiness and family.

A moment of joy.

Of peace.

Bonnie smiled up at me and tilted her head back, lips puckered for my kisses, which she couldn’t seem to get enough of.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “For being so good, too good to be true and for forcing me to face my shi—”

Whatever else Bonnie had been about to say was cut off by a loud, booming explosion that shook Midnight Mass and the ground it was built on. I gripped Bonnie tight before she fell to the floor and looked around the room to check on everyone else. Jasper and Thomas had Ma covered. The Manning brothers covered Kat, and Virgil protected Maisie.