There was someone in the house, and it wasn’t any of the Wildes. The sound was completely different from the usual creaks and groans of Doc and Grandpa’s ancient rambling farmhouse, and I felt in my gut it was an intruder.

Of the sexy variety.

“They sent me in to find out what’s taking so long,” Augie said with a grin. “Little did they know I was headed in here anyway to steal some kisses.”

His face held a slight blush since being sexually confident was still a very new thing for him.

“C’mere,” I grumbled low in my throat. “I almost tackled you outside a minute ago. Those jeans and cowboy boots are doing things to me.”

He’d gone all in on the western look for the Halloween bonfire. The snap-button shirt tucked into tight Wranglers was topped by a bandana and my own Stetson that we’d uncovered in Doc and Grandpa’s attic. I’d worn that thing the whole time I was in high school. As soon as Augie’d gotten his hands on it, I knew it was joining the vintage Rolling Stones T-shirt and oversized rescue diver hoodie in the collection of things he’d stolen from his boyfriend and was never giving back.

Of course every single one of those things looked better on him than me.

“Giddyup,” he said with a shy smile. “Ride ‘em—”

I cut him off with a laugh. “No. Those words sound wrong coming out of your blue-blooded mouth.”

“I beg your pardon,” he said in his hoity-toity highbrow voice. “I do not know of what you speak, sirrah.”

“That’s better,” I said, pulling him in for a kiss. The sound of horns honking outside interrupted us. “We should skip it and go back to your place. I think you’d feel better if you were naked.”

“No way. I’ve been too chicken to go to a famous Hobie bonfire since moving here. We are going.”

He glanced at me through dark eyelashes. The stitches on the very edge of his forehead were still dark in contrast to his pale skin. “But, ah, afterward? Maybe we can do the naked thing? I mean… if you’re staying over again?”

I hadn’t slept apart from him since the incident. We’d gone back to his place two nights before, grateful beyond measure to my brothers Otto and Hudson who’d replaced sheetrock, window glass, and doors. Even Sassy had come over to help paint.

I ran a thumb along his jaw. “Baby, if it were up to me, I would stay over every night.”

His eyes opened wider. “Really?”

I nodded. “Of course. But I’m not in a hurry and don’t want to rush you. I know you’ve been through so much shit with your family. It’s a lot of change at once.”

We were interrupted by MJ’s shout from the front door. “Put your dick in your pants and let’s go!”

After grabbing the grocery bag Doc had left behind with the marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate bars, I followed Augie out the door and to the truck.

Once we were at Walnut Farm, enjoying the giant bonfire with half the town of Hobie, Augie brought the subject up again. I was sitting with my back against one of the giant coolers we’d brought. Augie was sitting between my legs with his back against my front. My fingers had stolen under his jacket to stay warm against his chest.

I could feel his heart pounding.

“Would you consider… I mean, if not, it’s completely fine… but, maybe would you think about…” He took a deep breath and tried again. His face was toward the orange light of the fire, so I couldn’t see his expression.

“Saint, would you move in with me?”

Doc must have heard the words from his camp chair right next to us. He turned his head with a big catlike grin.

“I would fucking love to, baby,” I said before reaching up to tilt his chin so I could kiss him. “Thought you’d never ask.”

“What? But I…”

“He’s kidding, Augie,” Doc said with a chuckle. “It’s what he does when he doesn’t know what else to say.”

I cut in. “I know exactly what to say. I’d love to move in with you. And I love you so much, I might explode into heart-shaped confetti right now if I get too close to the fire.”

“I’d like to see that.” The deadpan comment came from over my shoulder. I turned back to see my long-lost brother King standing with his hands in the pockets of a trench coat.

I kissed Augie on the top of his head and untangled myself from him so I could stand up and give King a hug.

“Where the hell have you been?” I asked. “We haven’t seen you in months.”

He looked awful. There were dark smudges under his eyes, and the angles of his face were more pronounced in the warm light of the fire.

“Here and there. On a job.”

“What are you doing here?” Hudson asked as he walked over and bear-hugged our brother. “I thought you were in the Middle East or something.”

“I came back for the wedding.”

The rest of our siblings wandered over as Doc and Grandpa looked at King with arched eyebrows. “Whose wedding?” Doc asked.

“Yours,” MJ said to our grandfathers. Her arm was around Neckie who held little Reenie asleep on her shoulder. She’d finally recovered enough from the emotional delivery to decide she wanted to be an auntie to the baby she’d carried for Nico and West. Every time the two of them were together, I thought my grandfathers would break their phone cameras with overuse.

“What?” Grandpa asked.

“You haven’t told them yet?” King asked.

“We’re already married,” Doc said with a frown.

“You are, but as you also know, your forty-five-year anniversary is in a few weeks,” West said. “And, well…”

“You’re going to renew your vows,” Aunt Gina cut in. “In Napa. And we’re all coming.”

Sassy nudged Hudson out of the way to get to the front of the group. “It’s going to be epic!”

Doc and Grandpa exchanged a look. “A family trip sounds nice, but—”

“It’s already arranged,” MJ cut in. “You just have to show up.”

“Why Napa?” Grandpa asked.

MJ and I exchanged glances. The idea had only come about a few days before, but Nico had managed to pull it all together after calling Rebecca Marian. The vineyard hosting us was owned by Matilda Marian’s family. The vow renewal ceremony was the perfect excuse to get grandpa there without him coming up with another excuse to avoid seeing his sister.

Nico fielded the question. “I know the people who own the vineyard. They’re giving us a great deal.”

I thought about traveling to California with Augie to celebrate my grandfathers’ unofficial but very real forty-five-year marriage. The idea that one day he and I might be able to do the same brought tears to my eyes. The past forty-five years in Doc and Grandpa’s lives had brought love and pain, joy and grief. They’d raised children and lost friends. They’d been to war and come out of it changed forever. They’d ranched and practiced medicine and watched over their small town with affectionate pride, even when the people there didn’t support their union.

But most of all, they helped raise two generations of Wildes to help change things. The Hobie we lived in now was very different from the Hobie they’d raised my father in and the one I’d grown up in. And it would be different from the Hobie I hoped to raise Augie’s children in.

Augie turned to look at me with an excited smile. Can I go too? he mouthed.

“Always,” I whispered past the lump in my throat. “You’re one of us now.”

“An honorary Wilde?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Yes,” I said.

And in my mind, I took the word “honorary” and chucked it right out the door.