“I didn’t want to. At first, I thought that my boss was barking up the wrong tree, but then, he said that he had evidence proving that you and your dad were working together,” Crew admitted.
“You could have just talked to me, Crew. You should have just asked me if I helped to kill Susan,” Zane insisted.
“And you would have told me that you didn’t, but you know that if here is evidence, that’s what I believe. I’m sorry that I hurt you, Zane. When I found out that my boss didn’t have any proof that you were involved, I moved into the place and started investigating your innocence. I tried to tell you that when you two where here last time, but you didn’t seem to want to hear it.”
“No, I heard you, but I didn’t believe you. I guess we both owe each other apologies,” Zane said.
“I think that we should call things even,” Crew said. “How about it?” Zane pulled Crew around their girl and hugged sealed his lips of his guy’s.
“That sounds good to me,” Zane breathed, breaking their kiss. “Now, will you please come home with us? We have a baby to get ready for.”
“We still don’t know if Crew is happy about the baby. Maybe he doesn’t want to celebrate,” Dakota breathed.
Crew turned her around, and pulled her into his arms. Zane stood back and let them have their moment together. He knew that Crew was probably as excited about the baby as he was, but Dakota needed to hear it from Crew. “I love you, honey,” he said. “And I’m thrilled about the baby.”
“Really?” she squeaked.
“I’ve wanted us to discuss being a real family since the night that we picked you up at the bar. I just didn’t know how that would work or what it would look like,” Crew said.
“I’ve been doing some research,” Zane said, interrupting the two of them. “We can have a commitment ceremony, but you can only marry one of us.”
“No,” Dakota breathed. “I told you earlier that I won’t marry one of you without the other.”
“Wait—you two were talking marriage earlier?” Crew asked.
“Yes,” Zane admitted, “I asked Dakota to marry me. It didn’t seem that you were coming back to us, and I didn’t want to put our lives on hold waiting for you. But our girl insisted that she would only marry both of us.”
Crew nodded and looked over at Dakota, “Thanks for that, honey,” he breathed, “but Zane is right. You need to pick one of us to marry. That way, you and our kids will be taken care of. We need one of us to be your legal husband. Honestly, I think that it should be Zane.”
“Me?” Zane asked. “You do know what I do for a living. If she marries me, she and our children will always be in danger. If she legally marries you, she’ll be safe.”
“Don’t I get a say in this?” she asked.
“No,” they answered in unison.
“Listen, baby, we just want to keep you and our growing family safe. I can leave everything to both you and Crew in mywill. You’ll both be taken care of, no matter what. But marrying me will mean that you have to constantly look over your shoulder and you’ll worry about our kids all the time. I want to protect you—both of you. Please, marry Crew so that I don’t have to worry about either of you more than I already do.”
“Again, Zane—you do know that we are both cops, right?” Dakota teased. “I grew up with a target on my back for being my father’s daughter. I can handle myself.”
“How about if we compromise?” Crew asked. “You want to belong to both of us right?” he asked. Dakota nodded her agreement. “Great, how about the three of us having a commitment ceremony, and then, you and I have a civil ceremony, down at the courthouse, to make things legal. No one will have to know about it. Then, we can hyphen both Zane’s and my name to show that we are a family.”
“The three of us will present a united front,” Zane chimed in.
Dakota seemed to think about it and when she finally nodded her agreement, they both let out the breaths that they were holding. “As long as the rest of the world sees the three of us as a family, that’s all that I care about. Our kids will never know that I’m only married to one of you, got it?” she asked. “This is important to me.”
“Works for me,” Zane agreed.
“Me too,” Crew said.
They wrapped Phoenix in their arms, the three of them making the perfect family that Zane never imagined he’d ever find. Falling in love with them both was as natural as breathing and when Dakota announced that she was pregnant, all the pieces seemed to fall into place.
Finding out that his father was a murderer had eliminated the only family that he had left. Now, Zane had Dakota and Crew, with a baby on the way, and he considered himself the luckiest bastard on the face of the Earth.
The End
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