Holly hoped Loren wouldn’t have her feelings hurt that Holly didn’t ask her, but had a feeling her friend would understand, considering the circumstances. “Would it be horrible of me to ask you to perform the ceremony for us?”
Kimbra sat up and turned to her. “Marry you two?”
Holly nodded.
Kimbra let out a squee and nearly spilled her root beer as she leaned in to hug Holly. “Of course I’ll do that for you! Oh, my god! That’s awesome!”
Walt, Louis, and Papi all looked over. “What?” Walt asked.
Holly pointed at Kimbra. “I know who’s going to officiate our ceremony.” It was hard to remember not to call him “Sir” in front of Kimbra’s family.
She’d already had a short and mutually uncomfortable talk with Louis about her relationship with Walt. She didn’t want there to be any misunderstandings about what was going on.
Fortunately, Louis was more than willing to look the other way, as long as she was happy and it was consensual. Once she’d told him the lengths Walt had been willing to go to try to get the DNA testing accomplished, Louis had shed any and all possible doubts he might have considered having about the man.
Louis was also enrolled in college. He’d been planning on accepting Papi’s offer to be an electrician when a civil rights non-profit offered him a full college scholarship if he’d get a law degree.
Kimbra was tickled that he’d be attending her alma mater, starting in three weeks.
He also had a job awaiting him in her office, first as a part-time paralegal while he went to school, then later once he graduated.
Not just Walt, but Louis and Kimbra—and most of the Luzon family—had put their collective feet down about Holly working. She’d finally quit her job and was helping manage Louis’ schedule, as well as helping him work on the book he’d contracted to write about his experience. The six-figure advance he’d been offered by the publisher would supplement the speaking fees Louis and Holly were already collecting, as well as the donations people had spontaneously sent.
Holly was funneling most of those latter contributions into the non-profit Kimbra worked with, to hopefully help other people like Louis, and their families, seek justice. A few of the contributions she’d sent to the greyhound rescue group.
But with all of that, and the lawsuit Kimbra was filing on his behalf, they could get by for now.
Plus, Holly would be moving into Walt’s, eventually. She couldn’t bring herself to leave the house yet, not with Louis home. At least Louis would have a home of his own, once it was paid off with the proceeds from the lawsuit. And Holly and Walt had helped him get his driver’s license, as well as bought him a decent used car so he could reclaim his independence.
Fortunately, Louis didn’t mind that Walt spent every night at their house, other than the occasional night that Holly and Walt went back to Walt’s place for the evening. Every night was family night, the three of them eating dinner together, Kimbra frequently joining them, sometimes coming over to the Luzon house like this for dinner. It’d cut into Walt and Holly’s kinky time at home, but Walt didn’t seem to mind and Holly knew she loved him even more for that.
But Louis had made the mistake of mentioning to Momma yesterday how he’d missed family backyard grill-outs. She’d immediately ordered Papi to go out and buy a new gas grill to replace their decrepit old charcoal grill that they rarely used because it was a pain in the butt.
The new grill the three men were now trying to assemble.
“I can’t believe Papi bought a new grill,” Holly said. “I feel kind of bad about that.”
“Don’t. Momma’s been wanting a new one. This gave her the perfect excuse to guilt Papi into spending the money. He wanted to buy another cheap charcoal grill, which Momma hates with a passion.”
Sasha picked up her chew toy and walked through the propped-open lanai door to drop it in Holly’s lap. She laughed as she loved up on the greyhound.
“How spoiled is she now?” Kimbra asked.
“Walt placed another Amazon order yesterday for doggy Halloween costumes. She’s going to be a ballerina, a spider, and a cheerleader when kids come to the door for trick or treat. I think there were a few more he wanted to get for her, too.” Halloween was still a couple of months away, but even Holly was looking forward to it.
The past six years, she’d kept the lights turned off, the door locked, and never answered even if someone did knock. It’d been too painful a reminder from the happier years when she and Louis would dress up and hand out candy together.
“What are you going to be?” Kimbra teased.
“Whatever Walt picks out for me,” she said. “I told him as long as it wasn’t indecent for kids to see me in, I’d wear it. I swear he’s having a ball with this. I can only imagine what he’s going to do for Christmas.”
“You realize why he’s spoiling that dog to death, right?”
Holly slowly nodded. “Yeah.” She tossed the chew toy across the lanai for Sasha to retrieve.
“Well?”
“We’ve talked about it. I want to get settled in first. I’m also not sure how that would work with my fibro. Once we’re married, I can talk to my doctors about stuff. Walt told me that if I have to choose between taking my medications and supplements and stuff or having kids, we’ll drop the discussion. He doesn’t want me in pain. I finally got him to agree that it’d be a mutual decision, though. I know he’d never force me to get pregnant, but I think I finally managed to get it through his skull that it wasn’t fair of him to unilaterally decide I shouldn’t get pregnant, either.”
“He’s always wanted kids. I told him from the start I didn’t. I know it hurt him, but I wasn’t changing my mind. I think he kind of blocked that out, thought maybe love would make me eventually change my mind, or that just me would be enough for him. I love kids, and I don’t mind being an auntie, but I don’t have time for kids of my own. If that makes me selfish, I’ll own it. I don’t want any of my own.”
Sasha brought Kimbra the toy, and she threw it for the greyhound.
“I told him I’d like the wedding to happen first,” Holly said. “Not because I want to be traditional, but because of the stress. I need to tick things off in order. And we’ve only been together a few months. It doesn’t need to be decided right now.”
“You never saw yourself having kids before, did you?”
“No. I mean, a long time ago, yeah. Before…everything. Then my life became focused on Louis and his case, outside of making it through every day. Now…I mean, good problem to have, but still trying to wrap my head around it. Walt promises that if we end up not having kids, he’ll be okay with that. I’m not going to rule it out.”
“Funny how things work out, idn’t? The two loners end up together and happy.”
“Yeah. Two against nature, beating the odds.”
Kimbra grinned. “Momma gonna be pestering you for grandbabies.” She smiled and tipped her bottle toward Holly in a salute. “Better you than me, girlfriend.”
The men finally finished assembling the grill and locked Sasha safely on the lanai and out of their way while they lit it.
“Momma!” Cedro called out. “Bring the burgers.”
“Oooh, no 911 call needed,” Kimbra softly teased so the men couldn’t hear. “Score one for Papi.”
Walt broke away from the grill corps and joined Holly and Kimbra on the lanai while Momma hustled out with a large plate of burgers ready to grill.
“See? No hoses needed.”
Kimbra offered him a fist bump. “Good job, Fingers.”
“So you’re going to marry us off, huh?” he asked.
“If you don’t mind it. Your girl here is the one who asked.”
Walt grinned, picking up the double-entendre. “Well, what my girl wants, my girl gets.” He leaned in and kissed Holly, triggering another round of laughter from Kimbra.
“You two are fricking adorable. Might as well let Momma make the wedding plans. Have you told your parents yet
?”
“Yes, and they’re happy for us,” he said. “Guess we’re not having the wedding at Venture, though.”
Kimbra snorted. “Ya think?”
“Think I can talk Momma into just letting us have it here in their backyard?” Holly asked.
“I think if you sweet-talk her and let her make the plans,” Kimbra said, “you could get her to agree to dang near anything.”
“What do you think?” Holly asked Walt.
He smiled. “I think that’s a great idea. Anything that gets me closer to spending the rest of my life with you, I’m all for it.”
Kimbra held up her bottle of root beer. “Amen, buddy.” She leaned in toward Holly. “Did I tell you he is pretty smart…for a guy?”
Holly laughed. “I’m getting that impression, yeah.”
Walt smirked at Kimbra and fingerspelled something, which made Kimbra roar with laughter.
“What’d he say?” Holly asked.
“He just told me where I could go.” Kimbra grinned. “Would’ve been easier to flip me a bird, Fingers.”
“Last time I did that, Momma nearly killed me.”
“Ooh, I forgot about that. Yeah, she is pretty strict about that kind of stuff.” Kimbra leaned over and kissed Holly’s cheek before standing. “You can have my seat, Fingers. I’m gonna help Papi and Louis with the burgers.” She gave him a peck on the cheek before leaving the lanai.
Walt settled in next to Holly. “Happy?”
“You have no idea, Sir,” she softly said, staring into his blue eyes.
“Oh, I think I do.”
She leaned in for a kiss from him. “So does this mean the two of us beat nature?”
He smiled. “I’d say we’re ahead of the game, yeah.”
“I think I’d like to spend the night at your house tonight.”
“Why’s that?”
She crooked a finger at him so he’d lean in. Whispering in his ear, she said, “Because there’s a certain someone who’d like to make some noises tonight, Sir.”
His blue gaze twinkled. “I think we can arrange that, sweetheart.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tymber Dalton is the wild-child alter-ego of author Lesli Richardson. She lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC award winner is also the bestselling author of over one hundred books, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.
She loves to hear from readers! Please feel free to drop by her website and sign up for updates to keep abreast of the latest news, views, snarkage, and releases. You can also find all of her Siren-BookStrand releases under all four of her pen names on her author page on the BookStrand site.
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Tymber Dalton, Two-Against-Nature [Suncoast Society](Siren Publishing Sensations)
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