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into kissing with tongue so I wouldn‟t make an idiot of
myself with a girl.”
Blake took the box and opened it, hoping Tyrone would
understand his weird trip down memory lane. It had just
popped into his head while reading those words.
The ring itself was simple, platinum. It had a perfect
diamond embedded into the band: clearly masculine, but the
solitary diamond that evoked an engagement ring. Inside the
band was the same inscription. “Okay, I didn‟t ask you what
kind of man you wanted to be because I was pretty sure I
knew the answer. Should I wait for you to ask me if I want to
be part of your family?”
“Patience is a virtue,” Tyrone intoned gravely, though
his eyes were sparkling with his own excitement. Clearing
his throat, he placed Bitsy back onto the seat beside Blake,
then sank to one knee in the area between his bench and
theirs.
Looking
at
Bitsy
first
with
his
most
serious
expression, he asked, “Bits—I mean… Rebecca Brooks, may I
have your blessing to propose to your daddy?”
She looked at Tyrone and then at Blake. “Propose?
What‟s propose?”
Blake pressed his lips together to keep from laughing.
He didn‟t want her to think he was laughing at her. “Tyrone
wants to know if it‟s okay if he‟s your daddy too.”
Bitsy furrowed her brows. “You‟re my daddy!”
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Blake kissed the top of her head. “The best girls are so
lucky that they get two daddies.”
She squinted at both of them with suspicion. “I still
have a mommy?”
“You may end up with two mommies someday.” Blake
poked her side.
“Hm.” She nodded sagely as if she was considering her
options. “Okay, yes.”
Tyrone nodded with sagacity to match Bitsy‟s, and then
leaned in to press a solemn kiss to her forehead. “Thank
you, Bitsy-boo. I promise to be the best extra daddy a girl
could ever have. You may look at the birdies now.”
With Bitsy‟s attention diverted once again outside the
carriage, Tyrone‟s gaze fell on Blake. Still on one knee, the
setting sun throwing shadows and light over them as the
carriage rolled along, Tyrone swallowed, his tongue flashing
over his lips to wet them. “You know, we can‟t go back,
Blake. We‟ll never be those boys again. But the man I am
loves the man you are more than those boys ever dreamed
was possible. Nothing in the world would make me more
certain I have a future worth fighting for than for you to
agree to be my husband. Will you marry me?”
That was worth waiting for. Worth the pain and
uncertainty, worth taking the strange path that brought
them here. They couldn‟t have been this to each other when
they were younger. Blake cupped Tyrone‟s cheek and
caressed his lips with his thumb. His boy, all grown up now.
A man. He imagined that Tyrone probably thought the same
of him.
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172
In doing this, in proposing to Blake, he was rebelling
against his father. His very powerful father. Whom he
idolized. Who might well disown him now, and not in the fun
temporary way that Blake‟s father did. In that respect, Blake
could ruin Tyrone‟s life.
But Tyrone didn‟t want to be like his father. He wanted
a life—this life and this family—and Blake wanted nothing
more than to give himself to him. “I love you, Ty. Yes. I‟ll be
your husband, your home, your family, always.”
Saying the words made him tremble, feeling vulnerable
and excited, like his life was truly starting. He plucked the
ring from the box and let Tyrone slide it over his finger. Then
Blake sank to his knees with Tyrone and wrapped his arms
around him to give him a not-so-chaste kiss that bent
Tyrone backward over his bench seat.
Tyrone resisted a moment, probably worried about
kissing in front of Bitsy, but they were going to be married,
after all, so it wasn‟t exactly inappropriate. Then Tyrone
relaxed, his arms tight around Blake, Tyrone‟s mouth open
under his and returning his kisses with all the fervor that
Blake put into them.
“Always,” Tyrone echoed against his lips. “No matter
what. In perpetuum, ad infinitum.”
Blake rubbed their noses together. “I‟m afraid I‟m going
to need that in writing, sir.”
From behind him, Bitsy started singing, “Ty Ty and
daddy sitting in a… carriage. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”
The carriage driver looked over his shoulder at them
and smiled.
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“First comes love,” Blake sang along. “Then comes
marriage, then comes Bitsy with her baby carriage.”
“Am I going to have a sister?” Bitsy asked, sounding
shocked.
Blake turned to look at her. “Do you want a sister?”
Bitsy looked pensive. “I‟d rather have a kitten.”
He turned back to Tyrone. “A bouncing baby kitten.”
Tyrone‟s brows furrowed as he muttered something
about animal hair. Kitten or not, though, it sounded like
they were going to be a happy, silly family.
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174
Chapter Nine
DAISY and Lily‟s wedding invitations were about as silly as
Blake imagined they would be: embossed in obnoxiously
foiled daisies and lilies, with grandiose calligraphy listing
their full names and everyone they‟d ever met as presenting
them as a couple. The fact that they hadn‟t known each
other more than a few months—and that their wedding
wouldn‟t be officially recognized—didn‟t dissuade the ladies.
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