Page 12 of All Fired Up

It’s the vows that matter, the love. Not the pomp and circumstance that can surround them. As Jason is still adjusting, we felt better staying closer to home, which is why we chose to go to my now former place following a short celebratory meal. Once things are more settled, we’ll take an actual honeymoon, but this allows my new wife and I an evening alone while giving Jason some time to himself as well.

Carrying my bride across the threshold, I don’t waste a second on doing anything but locking the door and heading toward the bedroom. Thankfully, we haven’t completely emptied it yet, so we’ll have the necessities for the night.

As Helen has lived in hers longer, and neither of us want to uproot Jason yet again, I’m breaking my lease and officially moving in with them. Eventually, the three of us will go house hunting, but for now, we’re content where we are.

“I can hear you thinking,” Helen muses as she removes my tie and pushes the suit jacket off my shoulders.

“Busted,” I confess, making her giggle. I’m thinking about the life we’re making together,” I explain with a kiss to her nose. “How much I love you.” One to her forehead. “The things I’m about to do to you.” Then I swoop in and take her lips, halting any further talk as I proceed to fulfill my mission of making her beg for mercy as I take her over and over until the sun rises.

Epilogue One

Helen

Two years after meeting…

Life has never claimed to be perfect, but mine pretty damn near is. However, through all the ups and downs, one thing remains constant…love. And the news we received yesterday definitely falls in the former.

Grady and I may have gotten married at the speed of light, but we’d talked and agreed to wait on starting our family. Each of us wanted to be more established career wise here, especially me as becoming the office manager for his business was so new. I wanted time to fully grasp the ropes, enjoy doing a job I’d chosen.

Sow and Grow rapidly became a success and we have a very low turnover rate with employees. With my advice, Grady even instituted a summer program for high school students that would give them a chance to experience a bit of the real world while gaining knowledge in the field. Plus, they get to earn a little cash along the way.

He still volunteers, and thankfully, isn’t needed a lot since the person responsible for the rash of suspected arsons around the time we first met was apprehended.

“Did you call yet?” Grady asks as he drops a kiss on the top of my head. He hasn’t stopped smiling since the doctor told us, literally peacocking as we walked out of the office. Jason wasn’t much better when we shared the news with him, going on and on about how he’d be the favorite uncle. As Emmett believes that title will go to him, they’re already preparing a contest to decide who’ll get the fictional trophy. Who am I kidding? I wouldn’t put it past either of them to get a real one engraved with the honor. Kenna took it in stride, though I know she isn’t much better than them, she just doesn’t have competition as an aunt. I’ve grown quite close to them the past couple years and the four of us are at each other’s house quite often, sharing dinners, having cookouts, or family game night. Jason attends some of them, making the total six as he found his soulmate, Willa, and the two are rarely apart.

Emmett enjoys needling Grady, which is apparently revenge for Grady subjecting him to puns when he and Kenna hooked up. The best might be when, upon first meeting me, he looked at Grady and grinned, declaring, “Payback may be a bitch, but she’s a fun one. So, let me channel you when finding out about me and Kenna.” Then he cleared his throat, Grady groaning a curse because Emmett was clearly having a blast, and asked, “Did you mow her over? Did she tell you to leaf her alone?”

That had Grady admitting, “I’m a child in a man’s body.”

Which had me and Kenna chiming in, as if we’d practiced it, “All guys are.”

His parents were impatiently waiting for us when we left the building, knowing where we were going and why. I’m honestly surprised Michelle didn’t try to go inside with us, which is probably only because Clint wouldn’t let her. Or maybe it was the other way around? They’ve been wonderful to Jason and I, insisting we call them dad and mom. It might seem strange to others that my brother does – Willa, too – but not to us.

As for our own father and mother, our relationship has moved from strained to tenuous. We’ve reached out for holidays and birthdays and they’ve reciprocated in kind, but a distance remains that doesn’t sit well with me. Or Grady and Jason for that matter.

I understand the beliefs and traditions held by the older generation, though that doesn’t mean I have to accept them. I just want them to grant me the same, even if they don’t agree with my choices. I came to terms with our situation shortly after marrying Grady, but I continued to hope it would change. To be honest, I should thank them. If it hadn’t been for their stubbornness, their reluctance to let me be me, I might not have ever met Grady. He says differently, confident fate would’ve crossed our paths regardless, and while that’s probably true, we might’ve lost years in the meantime.

I’m hoping our upcoming conversation will be what finally breaches the divide and seals it once and for all. Grady nods, letting me know it’s time seconds after Jason and Willa walk in. Dad and Mom weren’t happy that they’d gotten so serious so fast, but Jason had put his foot down, informing them if they didn’t sincerely welcome her and acknowledge her place in his life that he’d cut them off – permanently. They hemmed and hawed at first, still smarting a bit from Grady and I as Jason and Willa had met during his senior year of high school here, but eventually relented.

We exchange greetings after they answer the video call, our preference whenever we speak to them as tones can be misconstrued, but expressions rarely can.

“How are you doing?” Mom asks, appearing to truly care.

“Never better,” I respond immediately.

“What’s going on?” Dad wants to know.

Grady squeezes my left hand as Jason grasps my right and I blurt out, “You’re going to be grandparents.” Not once have I seen Jai and Saira Patel speechless. That statement is no longer true as their mouths drop open and I swear tears gather in my dad’s eyes. Mom’s as well, but hers are falling unheeded down her cheeks, no attempt made to stop them. They pepper us with numerous questions, curious as to the due date, if we’ll find out whether it’s a boy or girl, whether we’ve begun picking out names.

And finally, what I was praying for… “We’re so sorry we almost cost you this, Helen.” Dad’s voice is shaky as he apologizes, his gaze pleading with me to believe him. And I do. Mom is sobbing, her words barely comprehensible as she says how they’ve missed so much.

Grady wraps his arm around me and pulls my face into his shoulder, knowing I need the comfort as he tells them, “We can change that. We want this child and any others we have to know both of you. We only ask one thing.”

“Name it,” my dad vows.

“Let them be who they are, who they want to be.”

“That’s it?” Mom is confused, as if she expected Grady to give them a long list of rules.

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