Page 156 of Kylie

Breathing in through my nose, I fought the tears that were forming.

“No one can predict what the future will hold, but Kylie Marie Prescott, we know for a fact that we want to spend the rest of our days loving you and making you happy.”

I smiled, my eyes watering, the tears threatening.

“We considered asking you to be our wife again, but since you already are and always will be, we thought maybe we’d just give you these.”

Travis passed over a black velvet box.

I took it, but didn’t open it right away. I glanced between them.

“Go on. Open it,” Gage urged.

I grinned. “I’m pretty sure Travis is supposed to be the impatient one.”

“Trust me, baby, I am,” he said with a beaming grin.

I stole one more glance at their faces before turning my attention to the box. Gently, I popped it open to see what was inside.

“Your letter instructed us to melt down all of our rings and create new ones,” Gage noted.

Travis added, “And we did that, believing it was what you wanted.”

“It was,” I assured him, and though I’d felt naked these past couple of months without having my rings when they had theirs, I had reminded myself that those were material things. As was the marriage in the eyes of the state. I’d given it considerable thought, even cried for the injustice, but then decided that as long as we were together, as long as I had them and my kids, I didn’t care what a piece of paper said. It wasn’t the important part of a life together. Being together was.

“I know,” Travis said. “But you haven’t mentioned your rings since you got home.”

No, I hadn’t. I’d been tempted to. More than once. However, I reminded myself that Travis and Gage had been forced to move on when they thought I was dead. At times, I found myself irrationally angry about it, but deep down, I knew they had only done what they thought I wanted. I’d broached the subject with Dr. Briggs but hadn’t yet come up with a way to bring it up to them without sounding petty.

I stared into the box, admiring the large platinum and gold bands that sat on either side of the exquisite diamond in the center.

“Those are our rings. The three of us,” Gage said. “We had the two we had made melted down again to create these.”

“How is that possible?” I asked, knowing that you could take three rings and make two without sacrificing strength. But there was only so much metal…

“The jeweler added more metal to strengthen them,” Gage explained. “It seemed fitting since we are stronger together.”

My eyes snapped up, meeting theirs. “We are, aren’t we?”

The words barely came out because the tears were winning the battle.

Travis reached for my hand, pulling me forward. I closed the distance between us and found myself wrapped in strong arms. We remained like that while the emotional tidal wave crashed.

“As far as the marriage is concerned,” Gage began.

I pulled back from Travis, shaking my head. “No.”

They both frowned.

“I’m not sure what you’re gonna say, but I’m okay with your marriage being the legal one.”

I could tell Gage wanted to argue, but I held up a hand, gathering my composure.

“I honestly don’t care what the state of Texas says we can and cannot do. So that piece of paper has never meant much to me. Travis and I got married a long time ago, so it was already in place when the three of us got together. But that marriage is voided, and I’m okay with that.” I smiled, ensuring they saw my sincerity. My gaze shifted to Travis. “You can have your lawyers draw up whatever you need them to as protection for the three of us. It doesn’t matter to me.” I pressed my hand to my heart. “We’re a family here”—I tapped my heart—“and that’s all that matters.”

“Are you sure?”

I could tell by his tone that Gage wasn’t sure he should believe me. And a month ago, perhaps I would’ve been lying, but life after death had taught me one thing: living in the moment is what counts.