Page 26 of Tinsel and Teasing

“Lick, seriously? Why? The lock and key are great, but not ‘lick’.” Knox shares my concerns.

“It’s our initials.”

Silence fills the room for a beat before we all crack up. Clyde throws his arms around me, Knox is next, and Luke has to shove them aside to work his way in and says, “I got a sexy dice game for us, which kind of seems childish in light of a Christmas marriage proposal complete with tattoos.”

Knox says, “Wait. Are we all in on this marriage thing? Because Princess, I need to hear that you will marry all of us.”

“I will.”

“I love you, Isadora. Thank you for coming back to us,” Knox says, and we all exchange I love yous.

I shed some tears. The guys suddenly cough a lot. I don’t press, but I think my sexy-jacks might be a little teary-eyed over our engagement. It’s okay. We can be ourselves when we’re together. They don’t have to be manly and sexy all the time. With a lifetime ahead of us, I want them to be real because there’s no other way we can be.

“All right, Isadora, time for the present I got you.” Knox grabs his phone out of his back pocket, taps the screen, and hands it to me.

An investment report. “This has my name on it. I don’t understand.”

“You want to be sure that you’re never dependent on anyone, that you can always take care of yourself, so I set up an account with a nice little nest egg for you.”

“That’s a lot of zeros.”

“Five to be exact.”

“You gave me a hundred thousand dollars? I don’t understand.”

“It’s all yours. And because I don’t want you to feel like you’re dependent on me to manage it, there’s an advisor’s name at the top. She’ll be your go-to person if you have any questions. It’s one hundred percent yours.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

“Me either,” Luke rubs a hand over his face. “You guys could have warned me what you were doing.”

Knox smiles at Luke then turns back to me. “It’s to show you that we want you, but we don’t want you to feel trapped. But rest assured, I will go to my grave making sure you’re cared for, Princess.”

“I don’t feel like thank you is big enough.” And I didn’t come prepared to swap presents.

“Your smile is all I need.”

“I’m so embarrassed. I didn’t get you any gifts.”

Luke grins. “You gave us something much better… You’re here. And there is one more gift.” He reaches under the tree.

“Oh, the dice?” I ask. It’s a box that could reasonably hold a dice game.

“No. Open this up and you’ll understand.”

I peel back the paper, immediately realizing that I’m holding a pregnancy test. “I don’t think it can work this soon.”

“There’s one way to find out, Sweetheart. We’re all dying to know.”

Nervousness wells up in me. I wasn’t on the part of my period where I should have been able to get pregnant, but if there’s anything to be said for the many efforts that night, a miracle might have happened. And it would be a miracle I’d readily accept, being connected to these guys forever.

I open the box and pull one of the tests out. “I’ll take this on one condition.”

The guys scramble to express their concern in a jumble. “Of course, anything you want. Whatever you need, just let us know.”

“I get to pee on the stick alone. I get privacy in the bathroom, now and always. The door has to be closed whenever someone is on the pot. Is that clear?” Once again, we’re all laughing, and it’s the best sound in the world.

Even if I don’t want them in the bathroom with me while I’m doing my business, we can still be happy together. I have my limits.

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