“No, Dad,” Keith said, sounding aggravated. “I guess I’m not totally gay after all, if that’s what you want to hear.”
He nodded. “That’s what I wanted to hear.” He looked at Aubrey. “If you want your brother here, your mother and I are fine with that.”
“What about his partners?” Aubrey asked. “I want them there, too. We all do. We all know about this.”
“Then I guess it’s okay with me.”
Noel fought the urge to burst into happy tears. If only her family had been like this, life would have been so much easier.
When Noel hugged Mrs. Knepp, she whispered into Noel’s ear, “Thank you, dear. I’ve missed my son.”
By the time they returned to the hotel late that night, they were exhausted, but happy. Keith had fun playing with his nieces and nephews, and his mom, Eloise, had quietly confided to Noel in the kitchen that she wasn’t as pigheaded as her husband, and that she even watched cable TV, but she had to live with the man.
She also made sure to give Noel her e-mail address.
It was a bittersweet win Noel would cherish.
Especially since none of her family had even sent Christmas cards. Not that she’d expected it.
She’d tried calling her mom on Thanksgiving, but reached her voice mail.
After three more tries over the next three days, with no calls being returned, Noel gave up until Christmas.
With similar results.
She’d written off her family permanently, but at least she had Scott’s parents and now the Knepp kin.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Keith said again as they were cuddled in bed and preparing to fall asleep after making fairly vanilla love, by their standards. “You were right.”
“You’re welcome, Sir.”
“I’m glad I get to see her get married.”
“Me, too.”
Scott chuckled. “I think your brother’s wife was still a little confused about everything.”
“Yeah, but at least she was polite about it,” Noel said.
“I don’t care,” Keith said. “Polite I can deal with. But…” He raised his head. “Tomorrow, please. Follow my directions. My dad is tolerating this situation. Let’s handle it like we did today, casually. Okay?”
Scott and Noel nodded. “Yes, Sir,” they echoed.
Keith let out a sigh. “And make sure not to call me that tomorrow, either.”
* * * *
Monday morning after their return from Oklahoma, Keith wished they could sleep in, or even call in and take an extra day off, but he had a lot of work waiting for him at the marina. He was already up and in the shower when he heard Noel come into the bathroom.
“Hurry up, babe. We’re going to be late for work.” He thought it odd for her to be moving so slowly, because usually she was the first one awake every morning.
He stuck his head out at the strange noise, just in time to see her dropping to her knees in front of the toilet and throwing up.
“Shit. Scott!” He got the soap rinsed off him and grabbed a towel as a half-asleep Scott, who’d had to leave for work less than an hour after their return from Oklahoma yesterday and had only gotten home an hour earlier, stumbled into the bathroom, nearly tripping over Noel in the process.
Scott knelt next to her. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t feel good,” she said. “I think I’m coming down with something. Must have caught something on the trip.”
That wasn’t the first thought to hit Keith’s mind. He wrapped the towel around himself and stood, grabbing Scott’s arm and levering him out of the bathroom as he whispered in his ear.
Then he returned to Noel’s side, dropping down next to her and gently gathering her hair in his hand, holding it back for her. “Sorry, babe. Let’s get you cleaned up, or do you think—”
Another round of vomiting later, she finally felt a little steadier and let him help her up and to the sink so she could rinse out her mouth.
“Where’s Scott?” she asked.
“He’ll be right back.”
“Where’d he go?”
“I sent him out to get something for your stomach.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Well, that wasn’t the only thing, but Scott would be back in a few minutes, anyway. There was a Walgreens less than a mile down the street.
When Scott returned just as Keith was helping Noel into bed, Keith got her up onto her feet again and back into the bathroom.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Scott handed him the box. Keith handed it back to him. “Open it and read the instructions, please.”
Scott ripped it open and did that.
“What?” she asked. “What is that?”
“A little wishful thinking on my part,” Keith said.
Now she was tracking, her eyes widening. “But I just went off them last month. Three of your sister’s friends were sick at the wedding. I probably caught whatever they had.”
“I know. Just checking. Humor me, girl.” On the one-year anniversary of the storm and her becoming Keith’s girl, she’d tossed her birth control pills.
“Yes, Sir.”
Ten minutes later, the three of them were staring at the tester, Keith in the middle with Noel and Scott flanking him.
Keith reached up, grabbed both of them by the hair, then kissed Noel, followed by Scott. “Guess we’re going to have to change a few rules around here pretty soon, aren’t we?”
Noel looked like she was in shock. “I can’t believe it happened that fast.”
“What, with the two of us throwing your ankles over our shoulders every chance we got?” Keith joked.
Scott laughed. “Sometimes several times a day.”
Keith leaned down and pressed his lips against her still-flat belly. “Guess now we’ll have to make good use of the next several months while we have you all to ourselves.”
She looked like she was in shock as she stared at the positive pregnancy test. “I wonder which of you did the deed.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Scott said before Keith could answer. Scott laid a hand on her belly as Keith pulled them in for a hug. “That’s our baby, all three of us.” He looked up into Keith’s eyes. “Right?”
Keith had never in his life ever imagined feeling this happy, this complete. “Right.”
THE END
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tymber Dalton lives in the Tampa Bay region of Florida with her husband (aka “The World’s Best Husband™”) and too many pets. Active in the BDSM lifestyle, the two-time EPIC winner is also the bestselling author of over seventy-five books, including The Reluctant Dom, The Denim Dom, Cardinal’s Rule, the Suncoast Society series, the Love Slave for Two series, the Triple Trouble series, the Coffeeshop Coven series, the Good Will Ghost Hunting series, the Drunk Monkeys series, and many more.
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