Nicole Edwards - Travis

Curtis knew better. The boy was nervous.

“It’s about time, boy,” Curtis called out as he made his way to the kitchen.

Lorrie was already greeting the three of them, kisses on cheeks and hugs that squeezed, even for the woman she hadn’t officially met yet.

“Oh, honey,” Lorrie said as she held onto Kylie’s arms and looked at her. “You’re so beautiful.”

The sweet girl blushed.

“Mom, this is Kylie. Kylie, this is my mom, Lorrie. Dad, you remember Kylie? And y’all know Gage.”

“Come in.” Lorrie was all smiles as she kept Kylie close, pulling her farther into the kitchen with her. The only time she released her was when Lorrie leaned up and placed a gentle kiss on Gage’s cheek before whispering, “Happy Birthday. I made you a cake for later.”

Aaannnnddd… cue that boy’s turn to blush.

“Can I help with anything?” Kylie asked as she followed like she’d been there a hundred times.

“Of course you can, honey. I’m almost finished, but you can set the table if you’d like.”

Curtis planted his hand on the back of Travis’ neck and squeezed gently. “You wanted to talk, boy?”

Travis looked over at Gage and then back to Curtis. “Come on, son. You might as well join us. I’ve got a feeling this has something to do with you too.”

Gage’s eyes flared wide as he looked back at Travis, probably hoping he’d be able to get out of it, but Curtis simply grabbed him by the back of the neck too and led them both to the living room.

“Sit,” he ordered as he urged them toward the couch and then dropped into his recliner.

To his surprise, Travis looked nervous. Curtis fought the urge to smile.

“Dad, there’s something you need to know about me,” Travis finally said after several minutes. The sound of the women in the kitchen slowly becoming background noise.

“What’s that?”

“I…” Travis stopped, glanced over at Gage then back. “There’re actually several things.”

“What is it, boy?” Curtis said gruffly, wanting Travis to get on with it because he knew his son would feel better once he got it out in the open.

“Kylie and I are married. We’ve been married for about ten years now, although we were only together for a couple of weeks after the wedding.”

“Hmmphh. Go on.” Curtis already knew this part.

He’d initially been saddened that his son hadn’t told his mother or him when it happened, but they figured Travis had a good reason. Since they trusted their boys to come to them when they needed to, neither of them had confronted Travis about it. Curtis couldn’t deny that the relief that he finally had was enormous.

“I made the mistake of leaving her because I thought she wouldn’t understand me. I’d fallen in love with her and married her because I wanted to be normal. I had second thoughts, and I didn’t want her to be dragged into my world, so I left. When I did,” Travis paused, glancing down at the floor between his legs. “When I did, I left most of myself behind.”

Curtis knew that too. Granted, until recently they hadn’t known where Travis had left himself or why, but for the last decade, Travis had indeed been different. He’d been broken, and it killed Curtis to watch, but he’d done it for years.

“She came back into my life unexpectedly,” Travis once again glanced at Gage before he continued, “but she wasn’t the only one who made a huge impact on my life recently.”

Curtis didn’t say a word.

“Look, Dad. This is fucking hard,” Travis sighed. Gage moved closer to Travis and placed a hand on his back.

The gesture alone spoke every single word Travis was having a hard time finding, but Curtis didn’t mention it. These boys had found something with one another that doesn’t come around but once in a lifetime. Sure, Curtis had a hard time understanding how things might work for three people in a relationship, but it wasn’t his place to question it. No one questioned him when he fell in love with Lorrie. No one told him that it wouldn’t work despite some of the odds. Not that Curtis would’ve stood for it if they had.

It wasn’t his place to determine what would or would not make his boys happy. It was his job to support their decisions and to love them unconditionally. And quite frankly, as long as they were happy, Curtis could pretty well come to terms with anything.

“I love them both, Dad,” Travis blurted finally, his head slowly coming up until their eyes met.

“That right?”

“Yeah.”

Curtis didn’t say anything more, wondering if Travis had any more revelations he wanted to lay on him.

“Don’t you have any questions, Dad?” Travis finally asked, his chest puffing out as though he were preparing for an argument.

“I do have one. Wait, two actually,” Curtis replied, sitting up in his chair and mirroring Travis’ posture. With his forearms resting on his spread thighs, he stared over at his boy.

“What’s that?”

Curtis paused, looked into the kitchen, then back at Travis.

“How’d the bed work out for ya? Your mother and I bought the biggest one we could find. Figured you’d need it if the three of you were gonna be sleepin’ there.”

Travis’ eyes went wide, but he managed to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. Without answering the first question, Travis said, “And I’m sure I don’t even want to know, but what’s the second question?”

“Oh, that’s an easy one. When are your mother and I getting grandbabies out of you three?”

Travis paled, all of his color draining from his face even as the small smile tipped the corner of his mouth.

Gage took things a little better. He fell over on the couch.

Laughing.

♀♂

Two weeks later…

“Daddy. Melissa,” Kylie greeted her father and his fiancé as they walked in through her front door. She’d spent the last hour pacing back and forth in front of the door, so the moment they arrived, she was already waiting.

At one point, Travis laughed as he sent her outside to wear down the wood on the porch. She tried that for all of ten minutes, but resumed her pacing inside for fear her father would pull up, and she wouldn’t have a chance to prepare herself. Now that he was standing in her entryway, she wasn’t sure whether her pep talk mattered. She forced a smile and clenched her hands into fists to keep them from shaking.

“Little girl,” he said as he leaned over and let her kiss him on the cheek.

“Wow, Kylie, this is beautiful,” Melissa said as she turned in a wide circle, looking at the house. The look of awe on Melissa’s face made Kylie beam with pride. “You’re actually going to sell this place?”

“That’s the plan,” Kylie answered quickly. “Are y’all hungry? I need to check on the casserole in the oven. Want to help? You could follow me if you’d like.” Kylie wasn’t sure exactly what words were coming out of her mouth, she just knew they continued to flow. Considering how nervous she was, she could’ve been speaking gibberish, and it would’ve made sense to her. Maybe not anyone else, but her mind was such a jumbled mess, she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

Just as she was leading Joe and Melissa toward the kitchen, Travis and Gage came through the living room toward them, both of them looking so handsome she wondered if she would start crying. Ok, maybe that was just an excuse. She just felt like crying. She didn’t care why she did it.

Her father was there. He was there to meet Gage and Travis, and Kylie was doing a miserable job of handling the situation. After everything went so perfectly with Travis’ parents, she’d built this moment up in her mind, and this certainly wasn’t how she envisioned it working out.

Travis leaned down and placed a quick kiss on her mouth. “It’s going to be fine, baby. I promise you,” he whispered in her ear as he stood to his full height, his confidence helping put some of the starch back in her spine.

Wait. No. No, it didn’t help at all. As soon as she looked at her father, all of the starch disappeared again.

Kylie needed to turn the air up, the room was suddenly way too hot.

Realizing she was supposed to be the hostess, she looked at the four people now staring at her. “Daddy. Melissa. I’d like you to meet Travis Walker and Gage Matthews. Travis, Gage, this is my father, Joe, and his fiancé, Melissa.”

Kylie watched as her father looked over the two men who had become her very lifeline. In fact, the only reason she was standing here with her father in the same room as the two men she loved was because of them. They insisted she introduce them. In person. After she procrastinated, – for two weeks – Travis had asked for her father’s phone number.

Yes. Chicken that she was, she’d given it to him. And, solid rock that he was, Travis had called Joe and asked if they could come to Dallas to meet him. To everyone’s shock, Joe had insisted that he come to Killeen and meet them at Kylie’s. She still wasn’t sure the reason for that, but she hadn’t questioned any of them.

“Dinner is almost ready,” Kylie said, her voice quivering, but she could do nothing to stop it. “Melissa, would you mind helping me?”

“Sure, honey.”

Without waiting to see whether her father was going to talk to Travis and Gage or just stare them down, she led Melissa into the kitchen. Being that the space was fairly open, she could see them as they continued to stand in the middle of the living room.

“Ky,” Melissa said, placing her warm, gentle hand on Kylie’s arm. “You know it’s going to be perfectly fine, don’t you?”

Kylie turned to face her future stepmother, staring at her like she was an alien from another planet and had just bestowed the key to the universe. “How do you know that?” she whispered. She had to clear her throat in order to find her voice.