He nodded.
“I’d give you my mom too, but I think you’re covered in that area,” he added.
Kelli gave him a rueful grin. “Yeah. I think I have enough mother’s love to last me until the end of time. I know I bitch about Barb a lot—”
“What?” Colm pretended to be shocked. “No.”
“She doubled-down on the insane snowplow parenting after my dad left. I’m starting to understand why.”
“Overcompensating?” he asked.
“Over-everything. But I know what my mom does is out of love for me. Sometimes I worry…” She didn’t finish the thought, but he knew where her fears were leading.
“Genetics are not insurmountable, you know. You can be any kind of mother you want to be.”
“I know. It’s just…what if I go too far the other way? What if, in my attempt to not be crazy overbearing like my mom, I don’t do enough for my kids?”
“That’s what I’m here for. I’ll keep you on the straight and narrow. And you’ll do the same for me. We’re in this together.”
“Together,” she repeated, as if she was trying out the sound of it. He and Kelli had both spent too many years as single units, independent people who answered only to themselves. It would probably take both of them some time to get a little less set in their ways. He couldn’t wait to start.
In fact…
He gripped her waist and pulled her hips to his, loving the way she swung one leg over him. “Marry me.”
She lifted her head from the pillow. “Was that a question or a demand?”
Colm moved his hand from her waist to her ass, gripping it tightly, holding her even closer. “Both,” he murmured against her lips, kissing her. “I need you to marry me, Kelli. Need you to be my wife. I need it more than air.”
She kissed him back. “You know, somehow you’ve managed to do all of this backwards. Lovers to friends, living together to dating, babies to marriage. You’ve made a mess of the whole thing, hotshot,” she teased.
“Oh, I did, did I? Just me. Alone. Thanks for clarifying that.” He tickled her until she cried uncle, then gave her another kiss. He was addicted to her lips. When he pulled away, he realized she hadn’t responded. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
“I still haven’t heard a question.”
He playfully bit her shoulder. “You love to make me work for shit, don’t you?”
“It’s what makes life worth living.”
“Will you marry me, Kelli? Have my babies, share my bed, and drive me crazy for the rest of my life?”
She pretended to consider, acting as if it was a really hard decision.
“Bear in mind, I own a lot of neckties, and I would have no trouble tying you to this bed and spanking your ass until you agree.”
“Wow. I was going to say yes, but I’m suddenly thinking I might need more convincing.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Say yes and I’ll still tie you up and spank your ass.”
“Yes.”
“Marry me soon.”
She rolled her eyes heavenward. “God, you’re a demanding ass.”
“Soon, Kelli,” he stressed. “Very soon.”
“Fine. Soon.”
Epilogue
“Hey, Pop Pop,” Colm said, peeking his head in through his grandfather’s open bedroom door. He’d moved in with Aunt Riley and Uncle Aaron when they built an addition onto the back of their house, creating a little suite for him. Now he spent most of his time there, with Bubbles as his daytime companion, the two of them playing rummy and watching way too much reality TV, though neither of them would ever confess to that. In the evenings, he’d watch sports either here with Aaron or at the pub, surrounded by family and the regular patrons.
Pop Pop glanced up from the romance novel he was reading, tucking it under the pillow with a guilty grin. The entire family was aware of his penchant for steamy romance novels, even though Pop Pop insisted he was reading mysteries and thrillers.
“Well, this is a nice surprise. What brings you here, lad?” Pop Pop stood up and gestured to the small sitting area in his room. Colm took one chair, his grandfather the other.
“Kelli had her sonogram today. I wanted to come by and tell you…” Colm paused, grinning, still struggling to believe the news himself. “Twins. She’s having twins.”
Pop Pop’s eyes lit up and he clapped his hands together. “Bless my soul. Twins! That’s wonderful news.”
“Yeah. Kelli’s over the moon. I’ve never seen her so happy.”
“And you?”
Colm’s smile grew wider. “Dream come true.”
“It is indeed. Oh,” Pop Pop stood up again, “I almost forgot. I wanted to show you something.”
Colm rose and followed his grandfather to the special wall. One entire wall of his bedroom was covered with photographs of the family, each member represented.
The photographs changed from time to time, based only on Pop Pop’s whims, rather than to mark celebrations or special occasions. Unlike most people, he didn’t frame posed senior portraits or wedding photos. All of Pop Pop’s pictures were candids; brief moments in time that, according to Pop Pop, captured the essence of the person photographed.
Pop Pop raised his finger and pointed to Colm’s frame. For the past several years, it had been a picture of Colm sitting at the pub, a pint in front of him as he talked to Padraig one day after work. He’d been wearing a suit, his tie loosened, and he was kicked back, relaxed, smiling. He’d asked Pop Pop at the time why he’d chosen it. After all, it was a simple photo that seemed to show very little. Just him at the bar.
Pop Pop insisted it was the perfect photograph. That he saw an intelligent, family-oriented man who was comfortable in his own skin, self-assured, successful, and on the brink of greatness.
Colm hadn’t known how to respond at the time, but when he’d looked at the picture again, he’d seen it through his grandfather’s loving eyes, and it suddenly hadn’t felt so simple after all.
This time, the picture
