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“Where’s Danielle?” Nathan asks.
“Taking a bath.”
"Are we drawing straws for who gets to go up and make sure she washes behind her ears?" Crew asks with a teasing tone.
“No, this is something kind of serious."
Crew turns, a jug of milk, a container of takeout food, and a bowl of grapes in his arms. “I take bath time with Dani very seriously.”
I blow out a breath. "I need to talk to you about one of those things that is only an issue because there are four of us. Typically, I’d know exactly what to do, but in our situation, I need to run it past you guys.”
Nathan frowns. "What do you mean?"
I feel a surge of frustration. "I mean that if I was just dating her on my own, I’d know exactly what to do and I’d just do it. But there are two other people now and…I thought I should include you.”
Crew sets his food down and leans back against the counter, crossing his arms. Nathan puts his phone down.
“Is she alright?” Crew asks, obvious worry in his voice. “Is she sick or something?”
Okay, that’s a fair guess since I’m a doctor and I’m frowning as if I’m about to deliver bad news. I shake my head. “No. She’s not sick. She’s…perfect.”
"We’re listening," Nathan says. But he sounds suspicious.
I’m just going to put it out there. "I want to marry Dani."
They both look at me for a moment as if expecting me to go on. But that is the bottom line, and I need to see their reaction to that first.
Nathan is the first one to respond. "That’s not really huge news, Hughes."
"Aren’t we already kind of married?" Crew asks. "We’re living together. No one is seeing anyone else. No one's planning to go anywhere anytime soon, right?"
I brace my hands on the marble countertop. "Marriage is more than that. You know that. It's a true commitment. It’s an official statement, a vow to the world that you’re in it together, forever."
Crew and Nathan exchange a glance, then Crew says, "Yeah. I guess I thought that's what we were doing here."
I take a breath. "Between the four of us, we’re committed. I get that. I know we all feel it. But I want to make it official. I want everyone to know. I don’t want to call her my girlfriend. She’s so much more than that. And, if it was just Dani and me, I’d be down on one knee giving her a diamond ring. I want her to have my last name. I want to introduce her as my wife. That word carries a different weight. It carries a different responsibility and commitment. And I'm ready for that. I want a wife and children. I want to move forward with our lives. And I want to do that with Danielle."
Nathan and Crew are now staring at me.
It's several long heartbeats, and I honestly don't know what either one of them is going to say. I know they love her. I know they’re committed to being with her and only her.
I do believe that Nathan doesn't expect to ever be with anyone else.
I don't really think Crew does either. But he's young.
I know Nathan has thought about his life and what the next ten and twenty years look like.
I’m not sure Crew has. He’s maybe looked at the next five. And I’m guessing they’ve all been about hockey. Which is appropriate. That’s what should be his primary focus. He has a different kind of career than most. His won’t last for thirty more years so he has to put his all into now.
I'm sure he hasn't actually thought about marriage and children at this point. No matter how much Crew loves Dani, twenty-three is young to be thinking about any of this. Hell, he’d put no thought into home ownership and we’d had to teach him everything every step of the way.
Nathan finally nods. "I understand what you're saying. If this was a typical relationship, you’d just ask her to marry you, she would say yes, and you’d start planning a wedding. You’d plan when she's going to get pregnant, you’d pick out baby names. It’d be easy and straightforward. But it's all different when there are two other guys."
I nod. "Exactly."
“Well, I’ve given this some thought as well,” Nathan says.
I’m not surprised.
