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“Sometimes,” he said after a slight pause.
“I want this all to be over,” I admitted to him. “I want a normal life or as close to normal as I can have.” I gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I feel like I ruined all of your lives, too. Remy and Troy are forced to have other people run their companies in their absence. Jaxson might lose his scholarships for football. Jace quit his job at something he did really well, something he really loved. Noah will have to wait longer to become a surgeon. You are working in a government kitchen when you should be getting Michelin stars! Do you ever wish I hadn’t come into your lives and complicated it?”
“Never,” he said with zero hesitation. “Remy and Troy always trained their people to run their businesses with their presence or absence. They are still in contact with their second in commands and general managers on a daily if not weekly basis. Jax
son can still go to college come August, and Pops is making sure he stays relevant. Jace has always adapted to situations with ease. As much as he loved teaching, he enjoys being a liaison to the other communities. In another life he could have been a politician. Noah needed a break. When you can heal people by touch, being a doctor is kind of redundant don’t you think?”
I could hear the amusement in his voice as he caressed my arm. “You should know me better by now, too. I don’t need the fame and spot light. Why do you think I stopped competing in the swimming? It took the joy out of my experience. I loved swimming. I loved competing. I hated the constant attention. I don’t need the accolades or the fame. I love cooking. I’m still cooking, and it doesn’t hurt that the food at the DFAC is actually edible now.”
He paused, thoughtful. “We all knew we had a connection out there. We all knew what we were getting into. We all know this was our purpose in life, by your side. People like Horatio need to be stopped. We have the abilities to do that. Together.”
I straddled his lap and kissed him deeply. I still didn’t feel at peace with the whole situation, but I felt considerably better. “I love you,” I murmured before I shimmied out of my underwear and onto him once more.
“What’s this?” I asked in surprise as we walked into one of the conference rooms.
All of my family and friends were gathered in there. There was a table full of gifts and another with a huge cake on it.
“We didn’t celebrate your birthday the way we wanted to,” Drake explained as he put his arm around my shoulder and kissed my temple.
I gasped. “But we had cake, ice cream, and movie night. I didn’t need or want anything else!”
“You deserved more,” Troy stated as he drew me into a hug. “Some of our gifts were on back order or we couldn’t locate them, so we had to run into town to get them today.”
I felt tears fill my eyes as I looked at everyone.
“We know this isn’t the idea place to spend your eighteenth birthday…again, but we’re trying to make the best of it.” Jace reached out and caressed my cheek.
I smiled up at him. I was done with this awkwardness with them. Couples fought. Couples hit road bumps. Sometimes it took a while to come back around but they knew, we knew we were worth it. They were my connections. They were the men I was meant to love.
“Just as long as we’re together I don’t care where we celebrate my birthdays,” I replied unwaveringly.
“Ditto,” Jace replied as a soft look crossed his features. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was a look close to love.
Jaxson and Drake had already told me they loved me. Sometimes I thought the others loved me too, but I wasn’t certain. I didn’t want to say I loved them, but every day I spent with them, good or bad, the more I knew I was in danger of falling in love with them. I knew I cared for them deeply. If I wasn’t in such deep self-denial, I knew I was already there.
“Is it time to eat?” Rachel asked expectantly from the table beside Sam, her father, and brother.
They were recovering rather nicely and were just released from the clinic a couple of days ago. Rachel was over-the-top happy to have her father and brother back. We had learned that her father had been on the run trying to protect his family until Horatio finally caught up with him. Herman was saved from the fate of his brothers because he had noticed his sister’s absence and went to track her down at the movies. He had been their tracker, and because of his absence, Herman’s brothers hadn’t been warned in time.
Rachel and Herman held on to a lot of guilt, but they were happy to be reunited once again. They were happy to be a family once more. Mr. Moore and Herman had already tested Sam, and he had passed with flying colors. Apparently, Mr. Moore was considerably older than Rachel’s mom, and they had been high school sweethearts, so age wasn’t a concern with him.
“We got your favorite,” Dawn said in a sing song voice as she began to carry trays of food to the table.
“Sushi!” I cried out in delight as Ford, Megan, Beth, and Terrance carried over additional trays of food.
“You forgot your tiara!” Ella cried out as she came over with a tiara proclaiming Birthday Girl on it.
Ella, Alex, and Nadia were sporting party hats, and the latter two were handing out more hats to the unwilling adults.
“You have to wear them,” Ella insisted. “Noah said it wasn’t a party without hats.”
A lot of the adults sent Noah a look, and he gave them an unrepentant smile as he put his own hat on and blew on a party favor. “I have it on good authority that Blake missed a lot of birthdays, but she never forgot to make Ella’s special. I figured we should make it up to her for lost time.”
I laughed. “The last birthday I had, well before the last time we celebrated my eighteenth birth was my tenth, and I had outgrown party hats and favors.”
“We got a piñata, too,” Alex cried out happily.
“That was more for the children,” Noah explained out the side of his mouth.
