Page 33 of A Little Thankful

More whistles, so I walked over to Hunter, and laid one on him. This time, my knees gave way, but he held me close, and spun me around until the world was a blur.

When I pulled away, and recovered my balance, I got down on one knee and said, “My incredibly hot, sexy, and forever brainy Forrest, and my seasoned business owner, Mace, whohas magic hands both on my body and with baked goods, and Hunter who can shatter my body into a million pieces and who will literally walk through fire for me… fathers to my baby girl, loves of my life, future nurturers to both me and their sweet daughter, will you be my everything partners? Will you be my husbands?”

“Yes!” they said in unison, sounding as if they’d practiced this moment.

They encircled me then, kissing and loving on me, filling me up with “yeses” and “I love yous” until the joy I felt burst through in kisses and giggles. For the first time since Autumn started smiling and laughing, I knew what she felt like. That utter and absolute innocent joy that few adults ever experience, and here I was standing in the middle of it, wondering how the hell I ever got so damn lucky.

“Here we go!” I said, encircled by my lovers.

And just like that, I knew I was finally home.

Forrest 10

I never had my time with Sage, nor did we ever get to convince her to stay using our new sex tactics. Instead, it was a whirlwind of realtors and lawyers telling us to sign on the dotted lines.

As it turned out, Jess had decided to buy another property instead, so our deal went straight through. Despite my apprehensions, we offered Dr. Charles her asking price, and she didn’t hesitate. Still, it required a stack of paperwork to fill out, which I had the time to sort through, so it was all good. My clients were too busy with their own holiday festivities to want anything from me.

Plus, a fire broke out in the hills surrounding Sweet Whiskey, so Hunter was completely out of the picture. Although, I did manage to get his signature on several forms, and was also able to send him forms for his electronic signature.

Pinning Mace down was even harder. He had so many orders to fill from all over the area including some of the finer restaurants in Napa, that getting him to cooperate was like wresting the wind.

And our new fiancée worked with her mom on some business ideas, while her dad chose to drive down to San Francisco to deal with Sage’s new replacement. Sage wanted to do it herself, but her dad wouldn’t hear of it. I told her he probably needed thetime to sort this all out. After all, he was never for any of it to begin with. Hell, he was still having a problem accepting the fact that his baby girl had a baby girl of her own. That fact alone was enough to send his mind spinning.

When Thanksgiving finally arrived, I was exhausted, and I was certain that everyone else felt the same way. Neither group sex or a group meal appealed to me, but I didn’t have a choice in the matter… the meal, not the sex part. That would happen later, and I wasn’t sure we were still on for a little guy-on-guy action. We hadn’t had a chance to talk about it.

And besides, she had already agreed to stay. I mean if the woman proposed to us, and we accepted, I had a feeling that meant she was staying put.

By the time I arrived at her parents’ house, I could barely keep my eyes open and it wasn’t even five yet. As I pulled up, Mace was right behind me, and before either of us could park, Hunter had driven up in his monster pickup.

As soon as we saw each other, all we could do was laugh. It had been such a hellish few days that we hadn’t had time to discuss everything that was happening to us. We were a family or at least, we were on the road to being a family.

What the actual fuck?

Yes, we all wore our best clothes. I almost wore a suit, but then called Mace about it, and he told me I’d look ridiculous. Still, we all looked the part, but we could see it in each other’s eyes that this meal was going to kill us.

“Bro,” Hunter said, as we grabbed each other’s hands, and bumped shoulders. “You look dead on your feet.”

“You don’t look any better,” I told him as I carried in a bottle of white wine.

Then we saw Mace and he looked as though he could fall over with the next breeze.

“I don’t know how I’m going to get through this,” he said. “I think I’ve had five hours sleep in the last four nights.” He yawned as he carried handled bags in with him.

“Let me take one of those,” Hunter offered, and slid it out of Mace’s hand.

“Thanks,” he said after what had to be the biggest, and longest yawn ever made by a human. “Would it be rude if I left early?”

“How early?” I asked him. “Because I’d like to join you. Getting all the paperwork ready for this transaction has just about killed me. It wouldn’t have been so bad if Sage had just bought it on her own, but because we will all be owners, the paperwork kept me up every single night.”

“Thanks for all of that,” Hunter said, as we approached the front door to the brick mansion.

“Can we leave right after dinner?” Mace asked.

“Before or after pie?” I asked.

“Before.”

“I don’t think we can do that,” Hunter told us as he rang the doorbell. “We have to at least stay for pie. Her mom made a couple apple and the pumpkin pies are from Sweetie Pies. We can’t be rude.”

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