Page 74 of The Unexpected

Thomas’s eyes are cold and sharp. He looks at Hunter, then at me, then at Lachlan. His jaw tics, but otherwise he’s unreadable.

I start: “Dad, this isn’t a joke. It’s not a phase. I love them both, as you know, and well …we want to have a commitment ceremony. Next week.”

Hunter doesn’t turn from the window, but his voice cuts the room: “We’re adults. Nobody’s being coerced. It’s real.”

Lachlan’s thigh is a warm line against mine. He says nothing, but I feel his pulse in the muscle of his forearm.

Thomas folds his hands in his lap. “I’m not going to pretend I saw this coming,” he says. His voice is soft, but the room seems to vibrate with it. “The three of you fucking each other’s brains out while behaving like sex-crazed fiends, yes. But commitment? No. Romance? No.”

I nod, chin trembling.

“Yeah, a lot of people think polyamorists are people who just want to have no-strings sex. But we’re more than that. We’re in love.”

Thomas’s blue eyes are flashing.

“And you’re happy?”

I nod, once. “Happier than I’ve ever been.”

He looks at me for a long, hard second. Then he sighs, a sound like the wind coming off a lake in winter. “Then I’ll be there.”

He stands, a little slower than before. “But you need to know—this is going to change things. For all of us. People are going to talk.”

Hunter grins, a white flash in the dark. “Let them talk.”

Thomas gives him a look that says a thousand things, none of them printable. Then he looks at me, and for the briefest moment, I see the little-girl version of myself reflected in his eyes. It hurts, a little, but it’s real.

“Anything else?” he asks, already halfway to the door.

“Bring Andie,” I say.

He pauses, then nods. “She wouldn’t miss it.”

After he’s gone, Hunter comes over and kneels in front of me, hands on my knees. “You did good, star girl.”

Lachlan squeezes my hand. “Your dad’s tougher than most. He’ll be fine.”

I want to believe them. I do.

The next call is to my mom. This one I put off for three hours, pacing the upstairs hallway in bare feet, phone in hand. Brenda knows that I’ve been seeing Hunter and Lachlan, and was curiously accepting. “You’re old enough to make your own decisions,” she said when I told her. “Although I have to say I never expected you to be dating your two step-uncles. That’s one that blew past me, even.” But Brenda was okay with it, more or less. So when I finally dial, she answers from her home office in Wyoming, her voice loose and bright. “Stella! To what do I owe this pleasure?”

I try to speak, but it’s like my throat has been coated in sand.

“Stella?” she says. “Is something wrong? Are you safe?”

I laugh, and it comes out as a croak. “I’m safe. It’s just—complicated.”

She waits. Brenda is good at waiting.

“I need you to come to Minneapolis next week. It’s a…family thing. For me.”

Another long, silent gap.

“Is this about the church?” she asks, voice a little too careful.

“No,” I say. “It’s about me, and Hunter, and Lachlan.”

The silence this time is longer. I start talking to fill it. “You don’t have to approve, or even understand, but I want you to be there. You’re my mom. You should be at my wedding, or commitment ceremony, more accurately.”