Page 119 of Ten Hammers

It’s letters. From my boys.

My Dearest Winnie, the first begins.

I recognize Gavin’s small, blocky handwriting.

Words can’t express how much I love you. I was honored to be your first lover and I hoped with all my heart I would be your last. That it would be you and me ‘til the end. But this process has made me realize something. I don’t care if I’m your one and only. I just want to be your forever and always. You know we’ll always do whatever you want, but please give us another chance. If you decide not to, I will whole-heartedly respect that. We’ll always have the Creepside Manor and you’ll always be my Pooh Bear, no matter what.

Gav

I run my fingers across the lines he’s written and I can almost feel his soul in the sentences.

I read the next.

I wanted to write you a song and sing it to you but Jack, that bossy doucherag, said we had to do it this way. I don’t know if anyone else will or not, but I’ll come clean. We made another stupid pact. And yeah, I know. We said no more secrets. But after we started the Winnie’s Favorite Hammer thing, we made a pact that none of us would tell us we were in love with you until you’d made your choice. We didn’t want to cause you any additional confusion. But Winnie, every song I ever write for you will be a love song. Because I love you. I am in love with you. We all are. You’re in love with all of us, too? FANFUCKINGTASTIC. I’m okay with it staying that way if you are.

Gunnar

P.S. Do you know any words that rhyme with orgasm? Y’know. Asking for a friend. Who is writing a song. About making some girl he’s head over heels in love with want to orgasm all night long.

I sob-laugh-sob, covering my mouth with my hand as snot bubbles out of my nose.

Winnie, the best day of my life was the day I invited you over to our house for pot roast when we were kids. It was the best decision I ever made. I love everything about you. And I need you to understand that that is never, ever going to change. I’m pretty sure all of my brothers would say the same. Let us keep loving you, darlin’. This isn’t about picking your favorite anymore. It’s just about choosing to say yes. To all of us.

I blink rapidly, certain that my tears are distorting the words. What the what?

It looks like I have letters from each of them. As I read the ones written by Leo and Theo, Diesel and Axel, they capture my heart all over again.

Then I get to Mason. I have to draw in a very deep breath before I read his. What he did still cuts so deep. I’ll forgive him, obviously. We’ll get past it, obviously. But… yeah. It cuts real fucking deep.

Winnie, I am sorry for so many things. Small things from calling you Cupcake when you hate that to the worst mistake of my life, signing on for that stupid new show. I am infinitely sorry that I hurt you. When I said I love you, I meant it. I love you more than I ever thought it possible to love anyone, Win. And if you’ll give me another chance, if you’ll give us another chance, we’ll all dedicate every day of the rest of our lives to doing what we’re meant to do– protecting your heart. I can’t promise I’ll never hurt you again, because obviously I can be an idiot of epic proportions. But I will do my damndest to be a better man for you, Win. We all will.

I move on to Jack’s

Winifred,

You know from our renos through the years that when we all work together, we can turn the worst disasters into masterpieces. I know right now you feel like this experiment was a disaster, but I believe it can still be a masterpiece. We’re going to put another layer of primer down over our letters so they won’t show through the paint, but they’ll always be here. Our love for you, in this house. It’ll also be with you wherever you go, Win, with whoever you’re with. But I hope like hell you’ll say yes to being with us.

Jackass

There are footsteps behind me and I turn.

All of my boys are there.

“I don’t understand,” I say.

“Winnie. Peach,” Diesel says. “If there’s one woman on this planet who can wrangle us all, it’s you. We talked about it last night, at length, and we want to keep doing this forever.”

To say I’m dumbfounded is a vast understatement. My gaze slides to Max and Mason. “All of you?”

“All of us,” Mason says.

“We all want to be your man, sweetheart,” Axel says. “Not temporarily, not ‘til you make a choice. We want to keep things exactly as they are. For as long as you want. Forever if you want.”

“But–”

Jack shakes his head. “We realize it’s very unconventional. But I mean, look at us. Ten brothers made up of a set of triplets, three sets of twins, and, well, me? We Hammers have always been pretty unconventional.”

My heart is beating so fast, I fear it’s going to burst from my chest and splatter all over the gorgeous new floors.

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