Page 80 of The Princess, the Prick & the Priest (Confessions 4)

Julien paused and then ran his fingers down the side of Robbie’s face. “You look at me, and my soul rejoices. You make it happy, every single part of it. Je veux être avec toi pour toujours. I want to be with you forever, and I would love nothing more than if you would take my name and be my husband.”

A tear slipped free and ran down Robbie’s cheek, and when he nodded and was about to try and speak, Julien kissed the tear away and whispered, “Not yet…”

“Robert,” Priest said, and as Julien took a step back, Robbie’s attention focused on Priest, whose eyes had darkened to that stormy grey Robbie loved. “You and I, we had a rather…interesting beginning.”

As unbelievable as it was, Robbie’s lips twitched, just as he suspected Priest had intended. Then Priest rubbed his thumb over the back of Robbie’s hand and kept talking.

“Most of the people sitting behind me right now know this about us. Or so I’ve recently found out. But here’s the thing about interesting beginnings: they are what hooks us and make us want to come back for a second look. Interesting beginnings are what makes us stop and take notice, like a bright yellow tie in an elevator or a car thief in an alley. They’re what made me stop. They’re what made me look twice. And what I saw staring back at me both times was a man I knew I wanted to look at for the rest of my life.”

Robbie’s entire body trembled under the power and weight of Priest’s words, and when he raised Robbie’s hand and pressed a reverent kiss to the inside of his palm, Priest closed his eyes for a moment, and Robbie sucked in a seriously shaky breath.

“You once told us that you make wishes,” Priest said, and opened his eyes. “Today, you have made mine come true. I love you. We love you. And I want today to be the last time we ever wake up without you. Your father told me and Julien the night we asked him if we could marry you that we wanted an awful lot.”

Robbie’s eyes widened slightly, that piece of information a new one, and Priest chuckled.

“And he’s right. We do want an awful lot. We want you, we want us, and we want forever. You are an exceptional man, Robert Antonio Bianchi. I can’t wait to see where each day after this will take us when we’ve already come so far, and I, too, would be honored if you would take my name with Julien’s and agree to be our husband.”

Robbie wasn’t sure how he was still standing, but as he stared into the two most arresting faces he’d ever seen, he said, “Yes. I want that. With every single part of me, I do. To both of you.”

Robbie brought both of their joined hands to his lips and kissed them, shutting his eyes for a moment as he tried to gather himself. When it was clear that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, he opened them back up and let the tears fall free.

“Last year,” Robbie said, as he looked between Julien and Priest, “around this time, there was a moment where I thought there was something wrong with me. That there was something I needed to change about myself because no one I ever dated stayed with me; they always moved on. But it turns out I was wrong.” Robbie smiled. “They didn’t move on because there was something wrong with me. They moved on because they weren’t either of you. The two of you are where I’m supposed to be, I have never been surer of anything in my life than I am of that.”

Robbie blinked away his tears and swallowed. “Most people don’t understand us. But they don’t need to. We love one another. We are meant to be with one another, and if that means you want an awful lot, then I do too. Because nothing, and I mean nothing, would make me happier in this entire world than becoming Robert Antonio Thornton-Priestley.”

Applause rang out behind Julien and Priest, and Robbie had been so caught up in their moment that it almost shocked him to hear it. But when Julien tugged him forward and kissed his lips, Robbie melted into his arms before turning to Priest, who mirrored the embrace but then pulled a ring box from his pocket and opened it up.

Sitting on the black velvet cushion inside were three matching silver bands that each held a ruby, a sapphire, and an emerald embedded side by side. Robbie gasped, and his hands flew to his mouth, as Julien picked up the first band and said, “May I?”

Robbie held his left hand out faster than he could blink, and didn’t care in the slightest when everyone chuckled at his exuberance. He wanted that ring on his finger. Not only because it was exquisite, but because of what it represented.

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