The Dragon’s E-Mail Order Menage

“It wasn’t her. Damon thought he was wildly, crazy in love with Maggie, right?”

“Right. I would say that’s been pretty well established.”

“Right. The thing is, it wasn’t her he’s in love with. It’s the idea of her. Did you see the look on his face when we dropped him off and Cali came running up into his arms? You watch, give it six months and those two will be married. He got loving Maggie mixed up with just wanting somebody. I think it’s something that a lot of people do. Probably a lot more people than you would think.”

Maggie smiled to herself, a secret little smile that nobody but her would have understood the meaning of. Hudson had no idea how close to the truth he was. Because he was right. After Hudson had retrieved his pickup truck, they had taken Damon back to Maggie’s parents’ place, the place where he said he wanted to be. Before the car had even turned off, Cali had come flying out of the front door, a look of extreme worry and bottomless love etched across her face. Damon had glanced at Cali then and she had seen the beginning of the revelation of the fact that what she had told him was true. If he wanted in, there was love from Cali for the taking. And it looked to Maggie like he did want it, or like he was starting to.

“You worried me,” Maggie heard Cali admonish him at the same time as she wrapped her arms around him. “I thought-by the way you left I had this feeling that something awful was going to happen.”

“It almost did,” Damon replied in a voice that was still shaky, “but Maggie helped me see some things.”

“She did?” Cali was pulling back now, her expression more guarded. Maggie could see the hurt in her eyes and she prayed that she could keep quiet long enough to hear what Damon was trying to say. She prayed that she would shut her mouth and open her ears, just like there mother had always told them to.

“She did, but not the way you think. She helped me to see that I was chasing something from her that wasn’t there. She helped me to see that it might be somewhere else, somewhere I should have been looking a long time ago.”

He hugged her then, so tight he picked her up off of the ground, and Cali’s delighted and surprised laugh rang through the cool night air. As Maggie watched, Cali’s eyes met her own and for the first time she saw love there, real sisterly love without the sick tinge of jealousy distorting them. They were going to be okay. Maggie felt it. Things were going to get better with them every day until they were as close as two people were capable of being. Things were starting to fall in place. Things were on the mend.

“So is that’s what’s going on with me? Is it what’s going on with you?” Maggie asked.

Hudson smiled and Maggie looked from one man to the other, confused. Were they talking about what she thought they were talking about? After everything they had been together were they finally going to say the words?

“Nope, not with us. No, I’m a hundred percent sure that what I feel for her is love, and I’m betting it’s the same for you.”

“You’ve got that right brother. A hundred percent.”

They loved her. They were in love with her, and god help her, she was in love with both of them, too. It didn’t seem possible, didn’t seem like it could work and probably didn’t make any kind of sense, but nevertheless, that’s what it was. She walked slowly toward where Levi sat in his chair, looking intently at Hudson as she did so.

She didn’t have the words on this particular night, not after all that the day had contained, but she could show them how she felt and she knew that it would be more than enough to suffice.

She rested her head on his chest, perfectly content to listen to the pounding of his heart, and knew that this was where she would always be most happy; in the arms of these two men.