Christmas Eve, the family was sitting in the living room at his parents’ house. Included in the mix were Nic’s grandparents, Aimee’s stepfather, and Alex’s mother. It seemed the family was growing by leaps and bounds, but there’d always be room for more.
Three more Fierces were in the room today. Nic was officially a Fierce now, her and Aiden’s wedding three weeks ago.
Two weeks ago, Jessica gave birth to his two nephews, Jake and Jeremy. He had no clue which one was which. “Mom,” he asked, “how did you tell us four apart as babies?”
“It was easy,” she said. “You all had your own personalities from the day you were born.”
“Brody was the biggest,” his father said. “From day one and stayed that way. Mason hardly ever cried. Aiden held everyone’s stare the most.”
“And Cade threw up more than anyone,” Ella said.
“Very true,” his mother said. “But like I’ve always said, you’ve all been your own person from the very beginning. You think you’re part of the group and you are, but the bottom line is, you’ve all found your own way when you needed to.”
His mother was eying him hard and he was trying not to squirm. He didn’t tell her what he had planned for tonight, but it was as if she knew.
The past month had been great for him and Alex. She was slowly moving into his place and they were working together on a lot more things, but it was nice to know that they each had their own businesses to run and could bounce ideas off the other.
There’d been no other communication from Keith, and Alex even had another reporter call her one day. She’d told him no comment and told him to get a life and leave her alone right after that. If anything came about from that in Texas, they had no clue, nor did any of them care.
Mason was bringing out a box with a new brew in it. He hadn’t told a soul what it was and Cade didn’t want to lose everyone’s attention to that, so he stood up fast and said, “Can I have everyone’s attention before Mason breaks out the beer?”
“Sit down, Mason,” his mother said fast. “Cade has the floor.”
“What’s gotten into you, Mom?” Cade asked. She was bouncing on the couch like she had jumping beans in her pants.
“Nothing. Go on. Ask. I mean speak.”
He shook his head. “Alex,” he said turning to her. “I know you don’t like being the center of attention, but I figured with family it was different.”
Her eyes were growing wide, but he didn’t care. He started this and he was finishing it. “What are you doing, Cade?”
He got down on one knee in front of her, pulled out a box holding the ring that he’d searched high and low for. “I know early on you promised me you wouldn’t give me a diamond ring when you just wanted to be friends.”
Her face turned bright red. “Cade,” she whispered. “How could you bring that up?”
“It’s not like I told them you just wanted to be friends with benefits.”
Everyone burst out laughing. “Like you just did now?” Ella asked.
“Oops,” he said. “My tongue is getting away from me.” He flipped the lid on the ring box. “You’ll forgive me, right?” She nodded her head. “I knew that. So here in front of everyone, I’m saying that I’m giving you a diamond ring and I’m asking you to be my wife. Will you marry me?”
“She will,” his mother shouted and everyone laughed again.
“Can you let Alex answer, please?”
“Yes!” she said, hugging him tight and kissing him hard.
***
“It all fell into place exactly like you wanted, didn’t it, Mom?” Ella asked.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jolene said to her daughter when they were in the kitchen together.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You set them all up.”
“Never,” Jolene argued. “How could I possibly know who your brothers were going to fall in love with and marry?”
Ella snorted and Jolene held her breath. Her daughter always was the smartest of them all, but she really didn’t think anyone would catch on.
“You do realize all the boys know what you did.”
“No,” Jolene said, feeling her face pale.
“Yep. I told them. They listened to all the facts and agreed. Well, we didn’t tell Cade. It was more fun watching him flounder.”
“Please,” Jolene said. “You all put your own two cents in and helped Cade. I know you did.”
Ella just grinned at her. “No one said you had to have the monopoly on finding love, did they?”
“Then why are you giving me so much grief right now?”
“Because it’s fun. And I’m here to tell you to not even think about trying it with me. I’m on to you. It’s never going to happen. Consider yourself lucky the four boys fell for it.”
“You think you’re so smart, don’t you?” Jolene asked.
“I do.”
Jolene watched Ella walk away. She’d see about that.
To be continued for...Ella Fierce.
The End!
The Road Series-See where it all started!!
Lucas and Brooke’s Story-
Jack and Cori’s Story –
Mac and Beth’s Story-
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story-
The All Series
William and Isabel’s Story —
Ben and Presley’s Story –
Phil and Sophia’s Story –
Alec and Brynn’s Story –
Sean and Carly’s Story —
Drew and Jordyn’s Story—
Finn and Olivia’s Story—
The Lake Placid Series
Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning –
Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker –
Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire –
Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan –
Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon-
Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton –
The Fierce Five Series
Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed -
Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti-
Mason Fierce and Jessica Corning-
Cade Fierce and Alex Marshall -
Love Collection
Vin Steele and Piper Fielding –
Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald –
Erik McMann and Sheldon Case –
Connor Landers and Melissa Mahoney-
Ian Price and Cam Mason-
Liam Sullivan and Ali Rogers-
Owen Taylor and Jill Duncan –
Chase Martin and Noelle Bennett-