The Woman in the Back Room (Costa Family)

"Avi," I started, feeling a little out of my depths.

"You love Dad, right?" he asked, looking up at me with those bright eyes.

"I, ah, yeah," I said, looking over at Santi, realizing that while I'd said it in my head a million times, I'd never actually told him out loud. "Yeah, I love your Dad," I said, watching as his eyes went soft.

"And Dad, you love Less, right?" Avi asked.

"Yeah, bud, I love Less," he said, giving me a soft smile. "We just weren't sure you were okay with it," he added, looking back at his son, and I suddenly wished we weren't having this very important conversation around half a dozen of our loved ones.

"It's okay," he said, shrugging. "I love Less too," he said. "And you said that Mom would think that was okay."

"Yeah, bud," I said, nodding. "She would."

"I think she'd like Less."

"Sure," Santi agreed, even though we both knew that, had the world been a fairer place, Brit and I would have gotten along for Avi's sake, we were very different people.

"So stop pretending," Avi said, shrugging as he took the knife Brio handed him to cut the first piece of cake.

We figured he was done.

But then he took his plate, and started to move around the counter.

When he dropped his next bomb.

"I want a little brother," he declared.

"Whoa whoa whoa, pump the brakes there, dude," I said, holding my hands up. "Your dad and I haven't even talked about that."

Though, to be honest, I'd thought about it quite a bit over the past few weeks.

I hadn't really thought about kids before. I figured I was young and I had plenty of time if I wanted any, but that, you know, I was probably never going to find a man who wanted to put up with me forever, so it wasn't likely going to happen.

But I'd caught myself daydreaming about a kid that was a little bit Santi and a little bit me.

"Oh," Avi said, not done, clearly enjoying himself and the chaos he was creating. "And Dad, you should give her the ring," he said, nodding.

"What?" I hissed, looking from the kid to his father with eyes that felt like they were minutes away from popping out of my skull. "What ring?"

"I found it when I was getting treats for Josephine," Avi said, shrugging.

"You kept a ring in the lettuce drawer?" I asked, looking over at Santi.

"Well, I knew it was the one place you would never find it," Santi said, smile huge, even if his eyes were just as confused as I felt.

I let out a laugh at that.

Because he was right.

"You kinda gotta give it to her now, man," Brio said.

Both of us looked over at Avi who had a mischievous smirk on his face.

"He's right," Avi said, nodding.

Clearly, we hadn't been as good at hiding our relationship as we'd thought. Because the kid seemed like he had known for a while.

"Well," Santi said, going into the fridge. "I had a plan for this," he said, fishing the ring box out of the vegetable drawer, flipping it open. "But it seems like our kid has his own plan in mind," he said.

Our kid.

Yes.

God, yes, I liked how that sounded.

The ring wasn't typical. It had three stones. Two larger black stones that flanked a smaller center diamond.

And I knew it was supposed to represent the three of us.

Becoming a family in an official way.

"Marry me," Santi said, voice and eyes soft as my gaze lifted from the ring to his face.

"Yes. Yes, absolutely," I said, smile huge.

I'd never been more sure of something in my life.

Me, Santi, and Avi.

It was everything I never knew I wanted.

But now that I had it, I was never going to let go.