Page 14 of A Little Thankful

He cried. Flat out bawled worse than that giggly little girl tucked inside the house.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” He wiped his eyes, and sucked up his emotions so he could go on. “I thought I would never have any kids of my own. Why do you think I pretended to want to put it off until I was older. It was because I never, ever thought it would happen.” He walked over to Sage, and knelt down on one knee. “Whether she’s mine or not, you broke through my fear and gave me the best gift of my life… a baby girl and I love you for it.”

“What the fuck, bro?” Mace asked. “You gonna propose or what?”

“If that’s what it takes to be part of her life, then yeah. I’ll do anything,” Forrest said.

“Not so fast,” Sage urged, holding up a hand, then sat back in her chair. “I didn’t come here for a proposal. I came hereto… well… to spend Thanksgiving with the people I love and to introduce Autumn to her family, and that includes her father.”

She drank down more beer, then took a few more bites of her slice.

“Maybe all three of us are her father,” Mace said, grinning.

“Yeah, maybe we don’t want to know which one of us shot the potent seed,” I said, meaning every word. “Maybe this is one of those times when it’s better not to know the exact truth, and instead just be thankful she’s here.”

“Speak for yourself, man” Forrest said. “I want to know if she’s mine.”

“And that’s what we’re going to do,” Sage said. “I’ll contact Doctor Charles tomorrow and set up DNA tests for everyone. Once it’s resolved, you can either choose to be in her life, or not. It’s up to you, but just know, there’s no half-ass bullshit. Either you’re all in or you’re all out. I won’t have it any other way.”

“And where will you and Autumn be living?” I wanted to know just in case Autumn was my biological daughter. I loved Cricket and never wanted to leave, but I would if I had to.

The ice-cold beer felt good on my parched throat. This entire day had been an emotional rollercoaster. I started in on my slice folding it in half. I was too hungry to piss around. I needed it in my stomach, fast.

“That’s just it. I don’t know where I want to live. That’s up in the air. My job, my office is in San Francisco. I don’t know if that’s all transferable. Not that I’m in the office very much, but still. When I started really showing, I never went in, but afterwards, yes, at least once or twice a week. When I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to leave this town, but every time I come back here, I realize how much I miss it.”

“And us?” I asked. “Do you ever miss any of us?”

I wanted her to tell us that she would consider moving back here to be with us… with me.

“That was just sex,” she fired back, crushing my hopes. “We don’t really know each other very well. We never even dated. I mean, yes, we grew up together. And yes, I’ve had a crush on each of you at one time or another, but I’ve never dated any of you individually. How do I know or better still, how do any of us know if we’re even compatible? Maybe if we spent some real time together, we’d hate each other.”

Not likely, I thought.

Mace messed with his phone, as if whatever was going on was important. We just ignored him, knowing damn well that bakery of his sucked up all his attention 24/7. Especially this time of year when everyone wanted not only pies from Sweetie Pies, but bread, cakes, cookies and whatever other desserts he and his staff created over at Just Desserts.

“Maybe we would, and maybe we wouldn’t, but we’ll never know if you run back to the city,” Mace said, looking up from his phone, and sounding more logical than Forrest. I was surprised he was even listening. He’d only taken a couple bites out of his slice, and never really touched his beer.

“Look at it this way, we’ve known things about each other our entire lives. We all grew up here,” Forrest said. “We know the basics. How long are you here for, Sage?”

“I’m supposed to leave on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.”

“That doesn’t give us much time to try this thing out,” I said, wanting a ray of hope in all of this. “Plus, it’s probably not enough time to see which one of us is the baby daddy.”

“You might be right on the DNA test. I don’t know how long those take, but what are we trying out, exactly?” she asked, looking like she truly didn’t get what we were proposing.

“Let’s see if we’re compatible? See if there’s any real chemistry,” Mace added. “I think that’s important, no matter what way this thing goes.”

Sage grinned, and my cock reacted. Every time that woman smiled, my entire body responded. No doubt there was a lot of chemistry going on, and had been ever since we spent all that time together. In one sense this whole thing with Autumn was like a gift. I didn’t know how the other guys felt, but for me, it didn’t matter who actually got her pregnant, I was willing to take on the role of Autumn’s dad. Fuck, I’d marry Sage if she’d have me.

I was in love with her.

My heart skipped a beat when I finally admitted the truth. When I finally was honest with myself. Seeing her again, and being this close to her only solidified what my gut already knew. She was my soulmate, my person, my woman and I’d be damned if I was going to let her walk away this time without giving our relationship everything I had to make it work.

“I’d say we already know we have chemistry,” Sage began. “Autumn proves that. But can we like each other… on a continual, daily basis? That’s the real question.”

She had a point, at least when it came to Forrest and Mace. There were plenty of group relationships in this town. More than any other town I’d heard of, but could we be one of those groups? And, more importantly, did we want to be? Forrest was a nice enough guy, but a little too logical to be around all the time. The guy only thought in black and white. There was never anything gray in his world. Could I handle that?

Then there was Mace who seemed obsessed with his bakery. Everything in his world revolved around the perfect chocolate chip cookie, or the perfect sponge cake batter.

---