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“I was a fucking asshole to her when we were kids,” Oz says from behind us.
Spinning around, I find him and Nero standing just inside the room.
“My dad left my mom for her mom. I was almost thirteen, and Etta was nine. I was angry and I took most of that anger out on her. When I was forced to spend time with my dad and his new family, I was an asshole, and she was my target of choice. Before last week, we hadn’t seen each other for fifteen years. When my dad called and asked me to let her stay with me, I obviously fucking hated the idea, but then she stepped off her bus, and that was it. It took me about twenty minutes to know she was mine and less than a week to make her my wife.”
“Holy crap,” Tori says, her expression gleeful as she looks between us. “This is so exciting. Who do you think will be next? I can’t wait to watch Danny lose his shit over a girl…or a guy,” she says thoughtfully. “He’s almost too pretty to be straight.”
“Sunshine, Danny’s sexual orientation is none of our business,” Nero says, stepping up behind Tori and placing his hands on her shoulders.
“I need to warn Knight, he’s going to need some time to warm up to the idea of finding someone.” Tori hums, then she snaps her head back to me. “Are you okay? These guys have a bulldozer-wooing technique that’s more shock and awe than sweet and caring. I’m guessing by how calm you are and the fact that you came here together this morning, that he hasn’t been too much of a Neanderthal?”
Unsure what to say, I glance at Oz, but instead of looking guilty, he just shrugs and smirks.
“There was a little bulldozing,” I admit quietly.
“Do Betty and the rest of the Barnetts know? I’ll have to get the girls together. We’ll have dinner and share war stories,” she says excitedly.
“I haven’t spoken to Betty since I went to dinner the other night, although she did add me to a group chat.”
“Are you planning on telling them? They’ll want to throw you a party,” Tori gushes.
“We’ll let them know. We’re going to host a barbecue on Saturday on the row, that way we can celebrate a little, then we’ll maybe have a proper wedding in the summer sometime,” Oz says.
“We will?” I ask, surprised.
“Figured you’d want one. Big white dress and all that?” he says, his eyes dropping to my stomach.
“Oh, no…that’s not…” I trail off as I shake my head.
“Okay, well, I’ll make a cake for Saturday. What’s your favorite flavor, Etta?” she asks.
“Oh, you don’t need to do that.”
“Cake is literally my world. I want to. So…flavor?”
“I don’t really know.”
“How do you feel about blueberry and lemon? I have the most amazing recipe I’ve been wanting to try.”
“I like blueberries,” I say.
“I can’t believe you guys got married, that’s crazy,” Tori says, not bothering to wait for me to reply before she starts talking again. “Where? At the courthouse? Did you have to use random people as witnesses?”
“Knight and Anders acted as our witnesses,” Oz tells her, not seeming at all shocked by her constant stream of conversation.
“What?” she shrieks. “You told Knight and Anders, but no one else?”
Not bothering to explain, Oz just shrugs. “We should go. Etta’s been up on the row since she got to town. I need to show her around, and we need groceries.”
“I have so much baking to do, but let me give you my number,” Tori says, staring at me expectantly until I slip my cell phone from my pocket and hand it over to her.
“We’ll plan a dinner once the guys have gone back on shift. You’ll have met James by then, and you can tell us what really happened and what he did to convince you to marry him after less than a week.” Laughing, she winks at me, then hands my cell back to me.
“Come on, Little One,” Oz beckons, holding out his hand for me to take.
A little shell-shocked, I place my fingers against his palm, relaxing when he curls his hand around mine and helps me up.
“Congratulations, Etta,” Nero says, smiling warmly at me.
