Uniting the Souls (Souls of Chicago #6)(69)
A month later we had secured the loan and signed the papers with all three of our names on the title. With very little that needed to be done to get it ready, we were able to begin moving in right away. Isaac told his landlord he wouldn’t be renewing his lease and Hudson and I put our properties on the market. Hudson’s place sold in a little over a week and my house sold after just three. It had all happened so fast and so easily that it was hard not to believe that it was fate at work.
I glanced at my watch and saw that I had a little bit of time before my guys would be there to pick me up and take the last of my things to the new house. That night would be the first night we all slept there. I picked up the box of clothes and carried it out by the front door then I went back to get another one.
Bending down to pick up the box, the lid popped open and lying inside, on the very top, was my picture of me and Sean on our wedding day. I sat down on the floor and pulled the framed photo from the box. I ran my finger over Sean’s jaw, noticing the happiness in his smile and the love in his eyes as he looked at me.
“I remember every single thing about that day. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t considered legal in the eyes of the law back then, our marriage was real to us and that was all that mattered. I felt like the luckiest man in the world to be marrying you and to have you as my husband. Our life together may have ended way too soon, but the time we had was full of more joy and laughter and love than most people experience in their entire lifetime. You were my first friend and my first love and I will always have a place for you in my heart. It’s gotten a little crowded in there since I let Hudson and Isaac in, but they don’t mind sharing the space with you,” I said with a smile.
“Losing you was the hardest thing I’d ever been through and I didn’t deal well with it. I got stuck in the darkness, buried under my grief. I knew you wouldn’t have wanted that for me, but I just couldn’t seem to find my way out of it. Then Hudson and Isaac found me and they showed me how much I’d been missing by closing myself off from the rest of the world. They taught me that the heart has room for more than one and they taught me how to live again,” I told him.
“I’m happy, Sean. They make me happy and I knew you so well, better than anyone else, and I know that you’re happy for me wherever you are. I’m going to live my life the way you would have; enjoying one adventure after another, laughing often and loving hard, and when I see you again someday, I’ll tell you all about it.”
Still smiling, I laid the picture back in the box and closed the lid. I was glad that it no longer hurt when I thought of Sean. I was finally at peace. A noise had me looking up and my smile widened as I saw the two people who had helped me find that peace.
“You okay, honey?” Hudson asked gently, his brown eyes so warm and full of understanding. Isaac was at his side as they both stood in the doorway watching me.
“Yeah, I’m great,” I assured them with a bright smile. I was ready to start the next chapter of my life.
We loaded the boxes into both mine and Hudson’s cars and then I followed them to our new home. We spent a couple of hours unpacking boxes and deciding where to put everything. It was easier than I had thought it would be to merge all three of our lives into one, but I suppose we all knew how lucky we were to have found each other, so where we put the plates or which section of the closet would belong to whom, really didn’t matter. The fact that we had two people we loved, who also loved us, which we got to come home to every night; that was what mattered.
We took a shower together, washing the grime of the day away. We talked and laughed as we took turns soaping each other up and we shared kisses; lots and lots of kisses. We would’ve loved to have taken things further, but we forced ourselves to stop since the pizzas we’d ordered would be there soon.
After our shower, we got dressed in comfortable sweats and T-shirts since we were staying in the rest of the night. The doorbell rang as soon as we finished putting on the last article of clothing and Hudson ran to the door to get the food while Isaac and I went to the kitchen to get some drinks.
Over dinner we talked about our new house; things we wanted to do to it, changes we wanted to make so it would feel even more like ours. It didn’t surprise me that the three of us had similar tastes and ideas because we always seemed to mesh when it came to important things.
I smiled as Hudson described the gazebo he’d like to build in the backyard. I was excited to be making plans with the two of them, planning a future together. I was finally happy and it felt so good. My previous feelings of loneliness and guilt had been replaced with a sense of peacefulness and love and it was all because of the two of them. I wasn’t sure they would ever know how grateful I was that they’d come into my life and decided to love me, but I was going to spend the rest of my life showing them.
When we had finished eating, we cleaned up the kitchen and then went to the living room and curled up together on the couch to watch some TV and relax.
“There are so many great things happening, we’ve bought a house and we’re getting married. I feel like celebrating,” Isaac announced during a commercial.
“What did you have in mind, baby?” Hudson asked, reaching over and smoothing his hand down Isaac’s cheek. Isaac’s tongue darted out and wet his lips and blood rushed to my cock when I heard Hudson’s deep growl rumbling up from his chest.
“I think we have an awful lot of rooms in this new house that we need to christen,” Isaac answered with a seductive grin. “It may take a while so we better get started. What do you think?”