Page 107 of Their Forever Daddy

That one had taken a lot out of Jesse, so they’d planned an impromptu trip back to Lost River for a couple weeks of rest and reconnection with their families. And while she’d enjoyed getting to snuggle the babies during the week, she was equally grateful they all had loving grandparents willing to step in for a day so Jesse and the others could have a ‘Little’ day. Grant, unfortunately, was stuck in California for some kind of work deal Edie didn’t even pretend to understand. She missed him even more than she missed her girls when she was in California.

Sometimes it sucked having two halves of her heart on opposite sides of the country, but she wouldn’t trade the life she had now for the world.

Leaving Lost River had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. But in the end, everything had worked out so much better than she ever could have dreamed.

She’d sold the house and some of the land to Matt and Carly, who had been all too happy to move into a larger space with their growing family. They’d even taken on the animals Edie had been so worried about leaving behind—minus Luna, who had come to California with Edie and was living her best life on a nearby farm with a whole herd of her non-working brethren—and with Jesse’s help there was now a foundation in Edie’s name dedicated to her rescues. While the house was solely Matt and Carly’s, a good portion of the land belonged to Edie’s charity which she was as hands-on with as possible from California, and there was even a small staff who worked alongside Carly to care for the animals until they were ready for their forever homes.

Noelle and Taylor were running the feed store. Or rather, what had once been the feed store. Less than two years after she’d signed everything over to them, they’d started making some changes. Noelle had contacted the woman who had sold her nearly all of the costumes she’d purchased for Dunk over the years and now ‘Besties’ sold all manner of cute fun outfits for your ‘fur besties’, often with matching outfits for the owners. Carly did all of their graphic design, Ginny helped with their social media promo, and between the four of them the store had exploded into something it never could have been under Edie’s ownership.

Some days she was so fucking proud of them she could hardly breathe.

Jesse stepped up to the picnic table and held out a hand. Suspicion niggled at the back of Edie’s mind, but she decided to play along as the other four Little girls joined her, their eyes dancing with excitement.

“What are you girls up to?” Edie asked as she rose to her feet, her babygirl’s hand firmly clasped in hers.

“We have a surprise for you.” Bouncing on her toes, Jesse tugged on Edie’s hand. “Inside.”

Jesse tugged again and Edie looked around at the Daddies, all of whom simply shrugged as if they had no idea what was happening. But Matt and Ian had horribly poker faces, and their grins had that niggle of suspicion working overtime as she let herself be dragged into the house.

Four giggling girls led the way inside, then up the stairs to the fully remodeled second floor. It was bittersweet, seeing the changes Carly and Matt had made over the years, but as much as she missed her little farmhouse, she was proud of them for making it their own. Carly’s personality was stamped all over the house in bright splashes of color and Edie wouldn’t have had it any other way.

To her surprise, the rest of the girls hung back in the hallway while Jesse led her into the master bedroom, where two simple white dresses were laid out on the bed. Stopping dead in her tracks, she looked from the bed to her grinning babygirl. “What’s all this?”

“Surprise wedding!” Jesse shouted, with the other girls joining in from the hallway.

“Wedding?” Even to her own ears her voice was faint. “What are you talking about?”

“Well… you know how Daddy and I postponed our wedding until we could figure things out between the three of us?”

“I remember,” Edie answered dryly. It had been one of the few real knock-down fights they’d had, with her insisting that Jesse and Grant move forward with their wedding as planned and the two of them insisting that they would do things as a family or not at all.

That particular fight had dragged out over the span of a month and Edie had spent more time of their Daddy’s knee during that month than she cared to admit.

Jesse cleared her throat, suddenly looking much more nervous than she had been. “Um, well, Daddy and I were hoping that maybe five years was long enough for you to decide you wanna be with us forever. And that you might want to marry us. Today.”

“I need to sit down.” Head spinning, Edie dropped onto the bed beside the dresses—their wedding dresses for fuck’s sake—and stared up at her babygirl. “I don’t understand. We can’t get married. Grant isn’t even here.”

“Actually”—stepping out of the bathroom, dressed in his favorite tux, Grant grinned down at her—“I’m right here.”

“Oh my god!” With a squeal of excitement, she launched herself into his open arms. “Are we really getting married?”

“If you’ll have us, little pixie.”

Five years ago, when they’d first begun this journey together, she’d had no idea how they were going to make it work. But they had, somehow, though there were days she still couldn’t quite believe it. And now, she couldn’t imagine her life without her Daddy or her babygirl by her side.

“Of course, I’ll marry you. You’re both in so much trouble for springing this on me at the last minute, though.”

A wicked gleam lit Grant’s eyes. “We can take turns punishing our babygirl tonight. It was her idea, after all.”

“Hey!” Despite her cry of protest, Jesse’s expression was positively gleeful. “It might have been my idea, but you helped plan everything!”

“Don’t think I won’t be making you pay for that,” Edie grumbled playfully, doing her best to look stern in spite of the smile threatening to split her face in two.

“Worth it.” Grant kissed her then, in that slow, thorough way he had that never failed to leave her breathless and needy at the end. When they finally parted, her blood had turned to liquid fire in her veins, and he was looking at her like he couldn’t wait to devour her.

Jesse wiggled between them, breaking the spell he’d so expertly woven. Sliding her arm around her babygirl’s waist, Edie pulled her closer, dropping her forehead to Jesse’s. “Mine,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

“Yours.” Jesse’s voice held that same heavy note of feeling as she agreed.

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