Page 76 of By All Accounts
“Very.”
Marshall nodded and finished the wine that was left in his glass. “That’s all I can ask for, right?”
“It’s…whatever you’re thinking, that’s not what it is.”
I found myself overwhelmed with the need to tell him everything about Daniel and Sophie because the thought of him not liking them or not understanding what we had was too much for me to bear.
“I’m thinking you’re a grown man who knows himself better than I do.” Marshall picked his words carefully, head inclined to the side. “I don’t need to understand it right now, as long as you do.”
Barely.
Falling in love with a couple who were months away from getting married was not the situation I would have wanted for myself, but they did make me happy and I made them happy, and that might not be enough forever, but it had to be enough for now. But when had now ever been enough for me?
“I’m happy,” I told him again.
“Okay.” Marshall flagged down a waiter and ordered a fresh round for us. “Now that you’ve said your piece, may I speak freely?”
“Again,” Hunter said with a low laugh. “I don’t think we could stop you.”
“My love for you three is not conditional. Of course it made me happy when Smith went into architecture and I rest easy knowing he has good taste in wine, but even if he’d chosen something else…even if you’d chosen something else, I would have loved you the same.” Marshall scratched the side of his face and turned his stare onto Hunter. “The day you passed the bar, I felt it. I felt as proud as a father would have, I think, but we’re so close in age.”
“I’m barely halfway to forty,” Hunter interjected. “You’re on the other side. We are not the same.”
Marshall gave him an exasperated but kind look, and Hunter gave his empty glass a shake just as our waiter appeared with the second round Marshall had ordered for us. We traded out our drinks and Marshall exhaled a long breath through the corner of his mouth.
“What I’m trying to say is…I heard everything you said and everything you didn’t say. I don’t…I’ve never taken the responsibility of you lightly. Of any of you.”
“We know.” Smith covered Marshall’s hand with his and gave him a reassuring squeeze.
“It’s never been a burden,” Marshall said next, words thicker than I think he probably would have liked. “I hope you know that.”
“We know,” Hunter said.
“I can’t imagine my life without the three of you. I don’t want to, and I’m sorry if sometimes I hold on too hard. I just…” He stopped himself and screwed his eyes closed, an unusual show ofemotion from the man who had absolutely always been our most level-headed brother.
“We know,” I told him.
I raised my glass and gestured for my brothers to do the same. It was a shame, I thought, that Andrew hadn’t been able to come up after all. He’d not had the experience of growing up a Covington and when we’d first found out about him, I was jealous of it. But with three of my brothers around me, our mismatched drinks raised in the center of the table, I knew I was the luckiest man on the planet. I had the love of the three best men I knew, and after dinner, I had an open invitation to go crawl in bed with a couple I adored beyond words. It might not have been the life Marshall pictured for me, but itwasthe life hewantedfor me.
“To Marshall,” I murmured, knocking the rim of my tumbler into the center of his wine glass.
“To Marshall,” Hunter and Smith echoed.
Marshall looked like he was seconds away from bursting into tears with moisture already gathered on his lower lash line. He cleared his throat and shook his head.
“To being your brother,” he corrected.
“To being your brother.”
“To being your brother.”
“To being your brother.”
CHAPTER 27
SOPHIE
Iwatched from bed as Daniel flipped the lid on his suitcase closed and zipped it up. His expression was beyond weary, and I moved toward the edge of the bed to give him a conciliatory pat against the top of his thigh.
