Page 56 of My Three Hometown Firefighters (Aspen Springs #2)

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Sienna

SEPTEMBER

I quietly pull the door shut behind me, praying that Mia stays asleep this time. I clutch the monitor to my chest, leaning my head back against the closed door.

I wait on bated breath for her cries to ring through the air like they have every other time I’ve tried to put her down today.

My legs give out, and I sink to the floor. I really should go take a shower or eat something, but I don’t know if I have the energy to do either. The guys have been on shift the last few days, so it’s been all on me.

Warren’s parents came up for the day to get Jackson out of the house for a while. Last I heard, they were going to get ice cream and go fishing.

Tears start to well in my eyes, and I don’t even really know why. I shouldn’t be crying like this anymore. I had Mia seven weeks ago. I should be back to normal. Right?

I bury my face in my hands, letting loose the tears I’ve been holding in for days.

I knew being a mom was going to be hard, but I didn’t expect this. The world doesn’t prepare you for what having a newborn is really like.

Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade any of it. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s fucking hard.

A callused hand grazes my cheek. “Baby, what’s wrong?” Tucker’s voice drips with concern, his knees falling to the hardwood beside me.

I continue to cry into my hands. He pries the monitor from my fingers.

“Baby, you’re freaking me out. What happened?” He gently tilts my head up, so I’m forced to look at him.

His eyes dart all over me, searching for a reason why I’m crying.

“Please talk to me,” he pleads, his hands framing the sides of my tear-stained face.

“I… I don’t… don’t know why,” I get out between sobs.

His shoulders relax. He falls back against the opposite wall in the narrow hallway, pulling me with him. My head rests against his chest, his arms wrapped protectively around me.

Heavy feet pad down the hallway behind me.

“What’s going on?” Warren asks.

Tucker runs his hand over my back. “She’s okay,” he says. His voice is almost a whisper. “Everything just boiled over, I think.”

I nod against his chest.

Warren crouches down until he’s in my line of sight. “I’m sorry we weren’t here,” he says, grabbing one of my hands in both of his.

I drag in a deep breath, shaking my head. “You had to work.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he says, shaking his head right back. “I don’t care where we are or what we are doing. If you need us, we will always be here.”

“You don’t have to do this alone,” Grayson adds, leaning down right beside Warren.

“I need to be able to do this on my own, though,” I say, my voice still shaky.

“Why?” Tucker asks.

I open my mouth, but no words come out.

“What do we need to do to prove to you that we aren’t going anywhere, that we are in this together?” Grayson says.

“I know all of that,” I tell him.

New tears well in my eyes, but this time I know why they’re there. These three men.

The three of them share a look, something passing between them that I don’t understand.

Grayson gets up, walking back toward the kitchen. Warren squeezes my hand.

“The newborn stage isn’t easy on anyone. We’ll get through this.” He leans back, so he’s sitting on the floor with his long legs bent in front of him.

“You’re kind of a superhero with all of this,” Tucker says. “Or maybe a goddess. Yeah, a goddess.”

I don’t even really know what he’s talking about, but it makes me laugh. Some of the heaviness I was feeling lifts away. Having them here just makes everything better.

Grayson comes back in, sitting beside Warren. He grumbles something under his breath. I can’t understand all of it, but I make out “ring yet” and “will have to do.”

Apparently, my brain is too tired to try and piece together what on earth he’s talking about.

“Well, we obviously weren’t planning on doing this right now, but when it’s right, it’s right,” Grayson says.

Maybe I’m more delirious than I thought because he really isn’t making any sense.

“Sienna, you are the glue that holds this family together. You are the reason this life of ours works,” Grayson says.

He swallows, scratching at his stubble. “I always hoped I’d find someone who made me half as happy as I am with you.

It just took a twist of fate for me to realize I’d already met that person a long time ago. ”

Oh…

Grayson’s eyes stay on me until Warren takes his turn talking.

“After things ended with my ex, I wanted to find someone who would love Jackson just as much as they would love me.” He chokes out an emotional laugh. “I actually think you love Jackson more than you love me, but that’s the way it should be.”

I do love Jackson so much. He means everything to me.

Warren squeezes my hand. “You are the brightest part of my days, and I want you to be in all of my tomorrows.”

Oh…

My inhale is jagged. I didn’t even realize I’d started crying again.

Tucker tilts my chin up, so I have to lean away from his chest to look up at him. His smile is soft and laced with so much love that it makes my heart pound in my chest.

“You, my feisty girl, tore into my life like a wrecking ball, destroying everything I thought I wanted for myself. You gave me a reason to want to let people all the way in. You made me want to trust. Trust in you. Trust in us.”

He breaks eye contact for a minute, seeming to collect his thoughts.

“I never thought love was in the cards for me, but you made me fall so deeply in love with you, it will be a part of me forever. I love you so much, Sunshine, and I don’t want a day to go by where I don’t show you how deep that love goes.”

My head rests against his chest as I sob against him.

Grayson pulls my hand out of Warren’s hold. “We don’t even have a ring right now, but none of us wanted to wait.”

My eyes roam between the three of them, realizing what they’re about to say. Or ask.

“Will you marry us?” Warren asks.

“Yes,” I say immediately.

There are a lot of things in this world that warrant a moment of deliberation. This isn’t one of them.

I know with every cell in my body that these three men are everything to me and that won’t change today, tomorrow, or ten years from now.

Grayson’s smile is infectious as he starts to wrap a piece of yellow string around my ring finger in a surprisingly intricate pattern.

When he’s done, I turn it from side to side. “This is gorgeous.”

“It’ll do for now,” Grayson says with a shrug.

I doubt it’s possible to keep a piece of string on my finger for the rest of my life, but they’re going to face an uphill battle getting it off me.

“It’s just like us,” I say, gazing down at my finger. “Something beautiful starting from what none of us saw coming.”