Kenzi took a deep breath and then turned to her brothers. “No, I am not. I left Dax behind because, although I have just had the best month of my life with him, I’m so scared that if I bring him here one of you will go after him again. I know you think you’re protecting me, but you’ll end up driving me away. I love you, and I’ve even really started to enjoy these game nights, but I won’t come to another without Dax. If you want me in your life, you’ll have to make room for him, too, because he’s part of mine.” When she finished she took several gulps of air and waited for her brothers’ responses.
Lance made a face at Grant. “Well, that answers the question of if she knows.”
Kenzi pounced on his comment. “Knows what?”
Grant gave Lance a hearty smack to the back and spoke for him. “We talked and decided Dax isn’t as bad as we thought.”
Kenzi looked at Asher. “Is that true?”
“Are you really happy with him, Kenzi?” Asher asked.
“I really am.”
“Then he’s welcomed here.”
Kenzi turned to Ian. “Do you feel the same way?”
Ian crossed over and gave Kenzi a hug. “We want you to be happy, Kenzi. That’s all we ever wanted.”
It felt too easy. Kenzi studied each of her brothers’ expressions. They looked like they were hiding something. “When did you have this talk?”
Sophie came over and took Kenzi’s arm. “Emily had a fabulous idea for a scavenger hunt we could do right here. She put strings to four things in the house. We follow the string, find the clue, come back, report it to our group, and try to solve the puzzle. It sounds fun. She put a lot of planning into to this, Kenzi. We have to at least try it.”
“I don’t really understand,” Kenzi said. “What’s the game?”
Emily pointed to a string on the floor. “Let’s just play it, and you’ll figure it out. Follow the string to a clue. Come back and tell us what it is.”
Shaking her head, Kenzi gave in and followed a string out of the room, down the hall, and to the kitchen. There on the counter was a stuffed animal, a white sheep with a small baby lamb attached. She brought it back to the living room. “Sheep? I don’t get it.”
Lance rolled his eyes. “I’ll get the second clue.” He came back a moment later with a paper and put it beside the stuffed animal. “It’s a will.”
Dale said, “Ian, why don’t you find the next?”
Ian headed off into another room then returned with a mirror. He placed it beside the other two items.
Emily took Asher by the hand. “The last one is ours. Come on.” They followed a string into the hall then came back with a painting of the Virgin Mary. They placed it on the table beside the three other items.
Grant rubbed his chin. “What could these items mean?”
Lance said, “What do you think, Kenzi? Can you solve it?”
The way her family was watching her made Kenzi wonder if they were losing their minds. Had too many game nights driven them to this? She was tempted to tell them that she’d said what she had to say and really wasn’t in the mood for a game, but there was something different about this game. It felt important, but Kenzi couldn’t figure out why. She looked at the items on the table and said, “Sheep. Mirror. Painting. Document.” She shrugged. Sophie urged her to try again using different words. Kenzi took a second look at the items. “Mary. Lamb. Will. Reflection. I’ve got nothing.”
Dax stepped into the room, and Kenzi gasped in surprised. She rushed to his side. “Dax, you came.” She turned to her brothers to gauge their reaction.
Dax kissed her gently on the cheek and said, “I told you I had something I had to do tonight. Something I’ve put off too long. This was it.”
“This?”
Dax led her to the table, and he rearranged the items. “Will. Ewe. Mary. Me.” Then he dropped to one knee, took out a small box, and held it out to her. “I love you, Kenzi. I’ve loved you since the night you threw up on my shoe, but I tried to deny it. You scared me that night, and I’ve been a wreck since then. Say yes, Kenzi.”
Kenzi looked from Dax to the faces of her family. “You planned this? All of you?”
Sophie said, “It was Dax’s idea, but your brothers helped him plan it.”
In a voice thick with emotion, Asher said, “No one should have to choose between the person they love and their family. I know I couldn’t.” He wrapped his arms around Emily, who was beaming.
Dax waved the ring. “You can say yes anytime, Kenzi.”
Kenzi burst into laughter. “Yes. Yes. Of course, yes, Dax.”
Dax slipped the ring on her finger then stood and pulled her into his arms for a deep kiss. Nothing in Kenzi’s life had prepared her for how happy she was in that moment.
She hugged Dax, walked around and hugged each member of her family, then went back to hugging Dax. As her head cleared she remembered how she’d felt when she first arrived, and she gave Dax a playful swat. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “I almost did.”
She looked at her brothers. “And you. You let me go on and on about Dax when you knew he was here.” She glanced up at Dax. “Did you hear all that?”
“Every word,” Dax said and his expression turned serious. “No one has ever defended me the way you did. I don’t have a lot of experience with love, but something tells me I’ve chosen the best teacher.”
Kenzi went on her tiptoes and kissed him on the mouth. “Oh, I’ll teach you.” Ideas of how were already bringing an excited flush to her face.
There was a general groan and Dale suggested they save that conversation for later.
“How about some coffee and cake?” Sophie asked.
A short time later, Dax sat with his untouched coffee and watched Kenzi on the phone with her friends. A huge smile spread across his face as he imagined their lives together. There was always a moment after every business deal when the final signature hit the paperwork and it became real—when there was no turning back or walking away. Dax had always found power in that moment. When he chose a path he stuck to it regardless of the obstacles he encountered. He’d never been a man who gave up once he set his course.
It was that sense of commitment Dax felt the moment Kenzi said yes to him. He was in this for the long haul.
I am not my father.
He wasn’t with Kenzi because he wanted to show her off to his friends. Her value wasn’t one that would decline as they aged. He was with her because he never wanted to go back to the man he’d been before her.
Before Kenzi, he’d thought he had everything because his life was full of what many people considered signs of success, but he couldn’t remember ever feeling as good as he felt whenever he was with her.
Even being with her family felt—
right.
He looked around the room. Sophie was smiling at something her sons were joking about. Dale was looking on with a look of love on his face that once would have confused Dax. He understood now. Suddenly Dale’s decision to give up his career made sense. Everything that mattered was right there in that room.
Asher leaned over and asked, “Do you still have a security detail following Kenzi?”
Dax nodded.
“She won’t be happy when she finds that out,” he said even though he looked as though he approved.
Dax shrugged. “I’m willing to deal with that conversation as long as she’s safe.”
Asher folded his arms across his chest. “When you have a little sister, you want to protect her. No one could be good enough, but you’re not as bad as I thought.”
Dax’s smile widened. “You live up to your reputation as an arrogant bastard and your brothers are just as bad, but that’s how I know I belong here. Can you imagine me with the perfect family? I’d scare the shit out of them.”
Asher threw his head back and laughed. “That you would.”
Pausing as she walked behind them, Emily dipped her head down next to Asher’s. “I like seeing you two getting along.”
Asher kissed Emily’s cheek. “He’s growing on me.”
Kenzi wrapped her arms around Dax’s neck from behind and flashed her diamond before all four of them. “You’d better hurry up and get married so we can see if a family wedding is survivable, or if there is an elopement in our future.”
Dax said, “I’ll marry you any day you choose, anywhere. I don’t care what it looks like as long as it ends with you coming home with me.”
Kenzi and Emily sighed audibly.
Emily said, “Asher, isn’t that romantic?”
Asher grudgingly agreed, and the women laughed.
Kenzi hugged him so tightly it almost choked him, but Dax didn’t complain. He loved seeing her like this. Happy. Free. She said, “I’d love a beach wedding on an island. Maybe the one where we met?”
Asher’s face suddenly turned serious. “Mom won’t go to the Bahamas.”
Dax glanced back at Kenzi, and she said softly, “My parents were on an island when Kent and I were born. She hasn’t gone to one since.”
