Page 72 of Unmistakably Us

“I can’t tell you who just yet, but yes, him. I get all the perks that come with being in the film too—VIP screening, red carpet walk, the whole nine. So, see sis, challenge fucking accepted and won.”

Frank spoke up and reined in the chaos surrounding Walker’s announcement. “That’s great, son. Sounds like you have a very full life which is all we ever wanted for our children, all our children. Who’s next?”

“Not that anyone wants to follow that, but, I’ll go,” Macy volunteered. “I got accepted in to UWF. I start this fall.”

Big Dax swept his daughter up in his arms. “How about that? My baby is going to college.” When he set her down, she wrapped her arms around Stacy.

“We are very proud of her. She’s worked hard, and she’s just the best.” Stacy released her step-daughter and smoothed her hair and dashed her face like she hadn’t just been crying a little. “John, Gus, anything to add?” Stacy asked like she already knew the answer.

“I’m going to be a father.” John dropped his hand to Augusta’s flat belly. “My Gussy Girl is pregnant.”

“Look at that. He’s the first to know this time,” Michael quipped.

“Watch it, youngin’. I can still take you.” Logan wasn’t jealous of the easy brotherhood between John and Michael. They all had a place here. January leapt up and grabbed her sister fiercely. And everyone else lined up to rub her belly. A small pang tried to take root in Logan’s heart when January sat back down at his side.

She placed a hand on his knee, and she leaned in.

“I meant what I said, babe. Family isn’t about shared blood but how much you’d bleed for someone else. I will love our children the same as if they came from our bodies. I’ll bleed for them if I have to, that’s the blood that counts.”

Again, Logan found himself on the comforting end of her words. He was fucking lucky to have her.

Logan noticed Jewel had made her way to stand opposite of himself and January. It was hard to miss how Ruger was staring at her with interest. Her responsive blush told Logan he wasn’t the only one to notice. He was about to ask Jan about it when Stacy, Andy, Marco, and pretty much the whole family who weren’t already seated across from them joined Jewel, and they all had shit-eating grins.

Andy seemed to be the elected spokesperson for the group. “The next bit of good news is more of a family affair. Logan, January…we couldn’t be happier as a family to have you both here with us. We are complete in a way with the addition of you two. Not that the Reids will ever stop growing, but you filled a you-shaped puzzle piece we didn’t even know was missing.”

He stopped to clear his throat, and Stacy stepped in. “We got you a fucking amazing wedding gift. Thanks to Jewel here waiving her commission and my superior negotiation skills, we got you the garage you were looking at.”

Logan looked to January for clarification. “But, that was just a pipe dream. I mean, I can’t…we can’t afford it.” Logan hated feeling lost.

“What the hell are we talking about?” he shouted to the excited crowd in front of him.

Leave it to Stacy to condense it to a few sentences. “January wanted to start a life and business with you. She looked at an old garage in the boonies, one with a bay large enough for a small plane even. Then she ran off, you lost your shit, but we kept our cool. Long story short, we bought it and y’all get to keep your hands dirty and run it.”

The enormity set in when Jewel and Andy stepped forward, moved dishes and flowers, and laid out a heap of papers. “We can’t accept that, it’s too much. Thanks for the offer but—”

Francis cut January off. “You can and you will, besides, it’s not free. Think of it more as a family investment. Every single one of us, including Jewel, since she waived her commission, has equal benefits and risk. Until the mortgage is paid, that’s how it’ll stay. Once it’s paid, then it belongs to the two of you to do with what you will, but your part of the investment is the talent, ours is cash. See, equal, a true family business.”

Logan didn’t know what to say; he had nothing. He would be hard pressed to say which made him more speechless—the way the Reids embraced them completely or that January had tried to plan a future with him before he even opened up to her.

There was a flurry of papers to sign, and it all blurred through his eyes brimming with emotion. When the papers were whisked away and activity returned to the pie that was now being served, Logan turned to the woman he loved. She seemed just as overcome with emotion as him.

“Thank God, because I don’t know if my man card could survive it if I was the only one right now,” Logan whispered to himself.

Damn it, I started out as a badass motherfucker when I came to this town, now I’m a fucking emotional pussy.He was half-heartedly joking. Not that he honestly felt there was anything wrong with loving others and being loved, not now, but it had been drilled into his head so a small piece of him still reeled back at the thought. Old habits die hard.

While struggling with what his mind understood but his training didn’t, that’s when he heard it. An odd chuckling that started from a distance but came closer. Fuck, shoulder Kip.

Before shoulder Kip could speak to him, shoulder Gene showed up. “Stuff it, pretty boy,” Gene commanded.

Kip sounded petulant for being scolded. “I didn’t say anything.” In his head, Logan saw shoulder Gene appear on the shoulder occupied by Kip and flick him off. Then, in his crisp black suit, with blood red tie, he casually leaned against Logan’s neck.

“Don’t listen to voices in your head like his or your father’s.”

Or yours?

“I heard that.”Logan was having an argument with himself? And it still wasn’t the strangest thing to ever happen. Shoulder Gene wasn’t deterred by Logan’s jumbled thoughts.

“Having the love of a good woman and loving her back is nothing to be ashamed of. The past is all bullshit. It means nothing to the here and now unless you let it. What’s important is that fine goddess in your arms and family. This family. She’s your heart, the air that you breathe, and the lungs that expand with it. And these folks here, they’re your family. They may not be blood relatives but they are your blood. Lose one and the other cannot function.”

---