Page 137 of Crimson Flames

I was only half kidding when I said that they had to ask me. Hearing they had already married me just felt weird when I wasn’t the one to agree. I can see why they did it, but it was still a shock.

It was then, when we were all in the car together that I realized something. For so long, I doubted my self worth. I doubted who I was capable of becoming and the lengths I would go to for the ones I loved. There was always a lingering doubt that at some point I would no longer be good enough.

But then, in the car, when we were all together as a family, the fire behind us lighting up the night sky as a clear symbol that our enemies were vanquished, I finally realized something.

Everything I had ever hoped for in life, I had. Two men who love me unconditionally. A son who adores me as well as his fathers. A family that would fight for and with us until the very end.

Stopping the car in the middle of the road was dramatic, but that lightbulb just flicked on so brightly that I couldn’t help it.

That’s when I decided I wanted two proposals. I wanted to make a big deal out of the love that we share, both individually and together. I wanted to show it off with a wedding my eccentric best friend would plan to perfection. And now I’ve gotten myself into a mess because I have no idea what I am going to do when Cillian proposes with his ring.

We quickly deplane, and the familiar scent of a land I once called home washes over me like the caress of a wave.

“Killer, why did you bring me here?” I ask, looking around the air strip.

He only holds out his hand at the bottom of the steps, smiling up at me, sadness bleeding into his expression.

“I once made some pretty big mistakes, and I want to rectify that with you.”

My fingers tangle with his as he pulls me in for a kiss. “Are you ready to see where I was all those years that you thought I was gone?”

A knot forms in my throat. I want to know, but I also don’t want to revisit those places for myself.

Cillian’s thumb grazes my cheek before his lips press to it softly. “Trust me, Love?”

So I nod my head and try to push aside the lingering anxiety.

First, we stop at Jerry’s Ice Cream Pub. Yes, it is a pub that also serves ice cream. Cillian and I would come here often with Enya to snag a cone on warm summer days. I always got vanilla, Enya would get strawberry, and Cillian would get his disgusting toothpaste flavor.

I never told him that I hated it for two reasons. The first was because Enya loved it. They would each finish half of their cone and switch so that they could get both flavors. When Enya wouldn’t come with us because of ballet, Cillian and I would switch. I got used to the overly minty flavor with time, but I never once said no when he asked if I wanted to switch.

Which is why when he hands me his half way through, I take it while giving him mine. We walk through town, a few of the shops tugging at long lost memories.

“Where to next?” Hiding my grimace as I try to ignore the smell of the mint burning my nose.

Cillian watches me carefully before pulling me to sit with him on a bench. His head tilts, and I mirror his expression. “What?”

“Why did you never tell me?”

“Tell you what?” He drapes my feet over his lap and snags the cone from my hand, giving me back my vanilla.

“You know, the first time we all went to Jerry’s, I asked Enya what you liked. She told me you liked almost anything but hated mint chocolate chip.”

My mouth nearly drops to the ground because I have been doing my best to keep this a secret for almost fifteen years.

He chuckles, shaking his head. “I knew she loved it, but the first time we went without her, I didn’t even think when I handed you the cone to switch flavors. I was just so used to doing it with her. I was going to take it back, but you surprised me. At first, I thought maybe the flavor was growing on you like I was.”

I laugh, taking a long seductive lick of my perfectly sweet vanilla.

“You left an impression,” I say with a wink.

He huffs jokingly. “I watched as you would take lick after lick, scrunching your nose up every time as if you were trying to hold your breath and not taste it.”

“You jerk,” I say, swatting at his chest. “Why did you keep trading with me if you knew?”

That gorgeous, rare grin spreads across his face, the one I dreamed about coming back to me one day. “I was curious why you did it, and when I realized it was probably so you didn’t hurt my feelings, I wanted to see how much that meant to you.”

“So you were testing me?”

---