Quickly, she speed-dialed her best friend's number. "Lynne--"
"Cara! Where the hell are you? Are you okay?" Lynne shrieked, the words tumbling out.
"What's wrong?"
"You're what's wrong," her best friend scolded. "Didn't you see our texts and calls? We thought you've been abducted or worse--Wait, I better call Max; they were worried. Or did you already call--"
"No, wait!" she called out in desperation. "I texted them--"
"One measly text," Lynne retorted, "after which, you didn't reply, calls went into voice mails…what were we to think?"
Cara fell back on the bed, groaning. "I'm sorry. I just…didn't want any distractions."
"So where are you?"
"In a hotel."
"Where?"
"I'd rather not say."
"Why not?" Lynne asked, suspicious.
"I've not been kidnapped or whatever it is you're thinking," Cara said irritably. While she could trust Lynne, she wasn't ready to talk about what she'd done. "I'm fine but exhausted, and I called because I need a favor from you."
"You don't need to ask, you know."
"I need, because your husband-to-be will be affected. Can I crash at your place for a week?"
"We would love to have you," was Lynne's immediate reply, causing tears to spring to Cara's eyes. In a miserable day of having her heart broken and her hopes dashed, Lynne's support and love was what she needed to lift her spirits. "But why? You have a perfectly good home to go to."
Cara sighed and related the scene she came upon earlier.
"And that's why you ran and became incommunicado."
She didn't bother to deny it, but the question that Lynne asked next came out of left field and surprised her.
"Do you love them?"
"Yes."
"Then fight for them."
"But--"
"No buts," Lynne said firmly. "Don't be a coward like me. If I hadn't dithered, but instead had talked to Mark earlier about the baby, I needn't have suffered those anxious days. And…you're missing one important point."
"What's that?"
"They didn't reject you."
"Didn't you hear what I said about Kyle proposing to Max--" Cara began to ask in a heated tone, indignant.
"Yes, but did you hear them say they're breaking off with you? That they're leaving you behind while they ride their white horse into the sunset?"
"I wasn't there for them to say anything to me--"
"Exactly."
Understanding dawned, and Cara grudgingly admitted, "I'm not sure they have a white horse, but you do have a point. Fine, I'll go back home tomorrow."
"Kyle and Max owe me big time!" Lynne crowed.
Cara could imagine her friend pumping her arm in conjunction with that gleeful laughter. "Don't count your chickens--"
"Don't worry, best friend. They've already hatched."
Cara cracked up. Lynne had a way of making her laugh, and not surprisingly, Cara felt a whole lot better. She soon sobered. "I…don't feel like talking to them tonight though. Can you--"
"I'll let them know you're safe. Have a good night's rest, okay? Everything will be all right."
Cara wasn't sure she believed that, but she slept more soundly than she thought she would.
Chapter Twelve
CARA, KYLE AND MAX
Cara arrived home the following afternoon around five. The lateness wasn't deliberate, though she had to admit her heart was pounding in trepidation the last few miles. What happened was that she'd slept so well she'd awakened at ten and, after a full brunch, had leisurely driven home with two or three stopovers for toilet breaks. No, she wasn't dreading the upcoming conversation at all.
She parked outside, like she had yesterday, to give herself time to marshal up her courage. Okay, that was only one part. The other part was that her pulse was speeding like crazy, her heart was racing like mad and she needed time to get her breathing in order. Despite the AC being turned on full blast, she was also breaking out in cold sweat.
Then she thought of Kyle, how he had defied his father in the fight for his love for Max. She thought of Max, how he had put up with his colleagues' bigotry in his resolution to pursue love with Kyle. So brave, both of them, her lovers. How could she be any less?
Once she got her breathing under control, she wiped off the perspiration and squared her shoulders. Picking up her handbag, she got out of the car and strode to the front door, which was ajar. A good sign? A silent welcome home? Or an invitation to thieves?
She shook her head to clear it of rambling thoughts, took a deep breath and pushed in.
The first sight that greeted her was of a worried Kyle pacing the living room floor, while Max was seated on the sofa, his shaking head pillowed in two hands. Kyle's head jerked on his next pass.
"Cara!" He hurried toward her, almost stumbling in his haste. "Where have you been? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she answered weakly as he hauled her into a bear hug, while inside, her brain was churning with furious speed. For the first time, doubts crowded her. Could she have made a mistake? They wouldn't be this anxious if they didn't care, would they?
Max took his turn. "We've been so worried. We couldn't get anything out of Lynne, other than you're safe. In a hotel." A mystified look crossed his face. "What was your emergency? Couldn't we have gone with you?"
"I saw…" She looked from one concerned face to the other, two faces so beloved she almost lost her breath at the thought of losing them. "I saw Kyle proposing and I thought--"
Kyle's face took on a stricken expression. Max went pale.
Oh no. She was right and Lynne was wrong. Could they hear the sound of her heart splintering into pieces? How many times could a heart break? Her breath hitching, she decided to save face and continued with "I'm so happy for you. I know you both went through a lot to be together and now"--she smiled (no forcing, because she was genuinely happy for them)--"you can be."
She was startled when Max, his hands on her biceps, shook her. "You're wrong," he said.
"What?"
"I rejected him."
Shock couldn't begin to describe what she felt then.
"It felt wrong without you there," he was saying.
What, he wanted a witness to the proposal? No way. She wouldn't survive it.
Kyle took her hands then and, still dazed, she faced him.
"Max was right; I was too impulsive," he said earnestly. "I should've waited for you to come home. I'm not sure if you heard everything, but Max's bout of food poisoning made me think about how uncertain and fragile life is, and I didn't want to waste any more time--" He dropped her hands and thrust them into his pockets.
She backed away toward the door, panic engulfing her. She didn't want to hear the proposal a second time. She'd lose whatever composure she still possessed and embarrass herself--and them--with miserable tears. Her only thought now was to get away. "You don't have to explain to me--"
Max was frowning. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I'm not yet done." Kyle bounded to her and tried to catch hold of her hand.
She snatched it away. "But I am!" she shrieked and clapped both hands to her ears. "I don't want to listen anymore. Please…I don't think I can bear it." To her horror, tears started to make tracks down her cheeks.
Confusion, then understanding dawned on Kyle's face. "Oh, you silly girl," he chided, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. Max was beside them by then, brows raised in question. "Is that why you ran away?"
Cara flushed. "I didn't run away. I had an important errand to run." Speaking of… "I need to tell you something--"
"Later." Kyle fumbled in his pockets again. "Hold out your hand. You, too, Max."
"If that's some day-old gum--" The black, square box in her palm made her shut up. Her heart thudded a fast, wild rhythm--the same, yet different from before. She lifted wide eyes to him. "Is this-this--"
Kyle fell to one knee in what seemed to her to be slow motion. He reached
out and held her free hand, doing the same to Max. "Cara, Max, you are both the greatest loves of my life, in this life and beyond." Incredulously, his voice wobbled, and the vulnerable way his mouth trembled pierced her to the core, even as riotous joy tumbled inside her. "Make me a happy man. Marry me?"
"Marry us," Max seconded in a firm voice. He gazed deep into her eyes, and the tenderness in them almost made her cry. He brought all their hands together, boxes and all. "I love you, too, Cara. I can't imagine life without you. Or Kyle."
She threw her arms around them both in a three-way hug, dragging Max down to the floor with her. "Yes, yes!" She laughed and cried, cried and laughed. "I don't know how we're going to do it, but yes!"
They kissed, and kissed again, the physical act an affirmation of their love, a promise and a vow of a future together. Boxes tumbled to the floor. Right there on the carpeted floor, clothes fell away as desire rose. Urgent whispers, seeking hands, loving caresses--all these heightened the love that swelled and spilled over into their passion.
As the tension spiraled in her, she looked up at her lovers--at Kyle as he thrust into her, and at Max as he pushed into Kyle--and her legs tightened around them both, trying to clasp them to her as close as she could without breaking the rhythm. They were hers--hers--for this life and eternity, and she would keep them and never let them go. Well, as much as they'd let her, that was.
Her crisis peaked, and she gave herself up to it, screaming out her lovers' names as she convulsed in their arms. A moment later, both men climaxed, too, shouting and shooting their load.
Maybe it was the release of the tension of the past two days, or maybe she was feeling contented and replete, secure in their love, but she dozed, boneless, satiated lethargy--the best kind--sweeping over her. She drifted in and out, her consciousness hovering on the periphery, though she was somehow aware of Max was carrying her to their bedroom. Hazy images swam through her mind--conversation with her advisor, Lynne's engagement party, a two-storey house in a quiet neighborhood and a tall man who looked amazingly like Kyle--
She jerked to a sitting position, suddenly awake, heart pounding. "I almost forgot!"
The room was bathed in the dim illumination from the moon outside their window.
"What is it?" A sleepy Kyle asked as he tugged on her bicep. "Come back."
"The Memory Book," she gasped.
"It's downstairs," he murmured, wrapping his arm around her waist and snuggling against her.
"No, it's not."
"What do you mean it's not?" He shot up to sit beside her, voice fully alert and eyes wide open as he raked a hand through his hair.
Max was also up by this time on her other side, and he laid a calming hand on Kyle's arm. "Cara?"
She wondered how they would take her impromptu visit, especially Kyle. "Um, remember my emergency? Kyle, I went to see your father--"
"What?" Kyle interrupted. "How is he? Is he okay?"
"He looks fine. Healthy, if a little bit sad. I think he misses you as much as you miss him, but he's being stubborn and doesn't want to say it."
"Is he still…resistant to Max and me?"
"Go on," Max prompted when she didn't answer.
"Yes," she said reluctantly.
Kyle gave a short, mirthless laugh. "I didn't expect anything different."
His voice was sad though, and if anything, it distressed her further. If she hadn't gone, she wouldn't have to relate this story, and Kyle wouldn't have been reminded of his family situation. He would've gone to sleep happy and satiated.
"I went with the misguided notion that I could help…bring you back together somehow, but…" She sighed and flopped back down on the bed. "Instead, I left The Memory Book there. I don't even know if he'll look at it. We may have lost it for good."
Kyle leaned down and stole a kiss. "Don't lose heart. Who knows, he may open it one day. When he sees how happy we are, maybe…you know…maybe…"
She kissed him so he didn't have to articulate the hope in his heart. She understood.
"And hey, we can start a new memory book," Max said, smiling. He lay down beside her, head supported on his upturned palm, and sent them both an amused look. "You can finally decorate it in the pink hearts and bows that you like."
"I don't like--" she started to say indignantly when Kyle burst out laughing. Realizing Max had said what he said in order to lighten the mood, she changed her protest to say coyly, "It's time I place my stamp on things." She wriggled her ring finger to emphasize the point. The men must've placed the ring on her finger some time after their lovemaking and before they carried her to their bedroom. "First thing tomorrow morning--yes, let's all take leave from work--Max and I are going to buy you an engagement ring. I can't believe you didn't buy one for yourself. We want the world to know you're ours. And we're yours--your new family."
"My new family." Kyle smiled. Was that a watery glint in his eye? "Sounds perfect."
Epilogue
CARA, KYLE AND MAX
Ten days later
It was a madhouse, the way it was every workday morning at the Wilson-Lockwood-Brannigan household.
"Did anyone see my green socks?" Max yelled from the bedroom.
"I placed them in your sock drawer!" Kyle bellowed, taking a second from flipping pancakes.
"I can't find them!"
"Oh for fuck--wear the black ones!" Cara shouted as she dashed down the stairs.
"Here," Kyle said in a rush, handing her the spatula. "I need to get dressed--"
The doorbell rang.
"Who in hell--" He cursed, about to dash toward the door when Max streaked past him.
"Go, I got this." Max opened the door. "Yes, how may I help-help--"
Max stuttering to a stop made Kyle pause, one foot on the first step, and turn back. He blinked and blinked again. A deafening roar filled his ears.
The man on their front door was shaking hands with his lover. "Good to see you, Max."
"Y-y-you too, sir," Max answered, stammering.
Somehow, Kyle had moved forward until he was standing beside them. "Dad," he breathed, still reeling at the sight of the two men he loved most in the world in harmony with each other.
His father's eyes softened, and the love and acceptance in them filled his heart to overflowing. "Hello, son."
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