Fool for You by Kelly Elliott

Landon

EMMERSON HELD MY hand as we drove down the long drive that led to our folks’ place. When she had texted her mom that I would be joining dinner, it soon became a two-family dinner, with my folks and Hailey coming as well.

I heard honking from behind me, and I looked in the rearview mirror to see Hailey in her black Toyota Camry. I lifted my hand and waved, but she kept honking. Then she started to flash her lights at me.

“Geesh, how fast does she want me to go down the drive?” I asked as Emmerson looked back at my sister.

“She’s passing you!” Emmerson laughed. She turned to face the front again—only to scream when Hailey slammed on her brakes.

I stopped in barely enough time. Pushing my truck into Park, I jumped out as Hailey got out of her car. Emmerson was right behind me.

“What in the hell, Hail! Why did you do that?”

“I’ve been trying to call you both! Why are neither one of you answering your phones?” Hailey asked, her hands placed firmly on her hips.

Emmerson shook her head. “Mine must be on silent.”

“Mine too. Why, what’s wrong?” I asked.

Hailey closed her eyes, took in a long, deep breath, and then pushed it out and immediately started panic talking. “It’s Mike. He’s gone off the deep end and has been begging me to take him back. Last week, he threatened to expose your fake engagement unless we got back together. I told him to go ahead, but I figured he was bluffing. But then today, he called and was so upset on the phone. He was crying, and I could hardly understand a word he was saying and he…” She paused only long enough to drag in a quick breath. “He kept saying how sorry he was and to please forgive him—”

“What did he do?” Emmerson asked, cutting off my sister’s rambling.

“Please tell me he didn’t go to a reporter about the fake engagement,” I said as my stomach lurched. It felt like someone had placed a twenty-pound weight in there.

“No, it’s nothing that bad. But he did tell our parents the two of you have been secretly dating.”

Emmerson brought her hand to her mouth. “What! Why in the world would he do that? Why drag us into this?”

“I don’t know! Maybe to get back at me, or to punish the family, I don’t know. For what it’s worth, I think he regrets it.”

“So, wait,” I said. “Mom and Dad know about me and Emmerson?”

Hailey nodded, rubbing her hands together nervously. “As of about an hour ago. Truth be told, though, I think Dad already knew.”

Emmerson turned and looked at me and then back to Hailey. “Well, it doesn’t matter—Landon and I were going to tell them about us. Tonight.”

For a moment, the worry left Hailey’s face, and she smiled. “Oh my gosh, are y’all serious? You were going to tell them?”

“Yes, so it doesn’t matter that Mike said anything,” Emmerson said with a wide grin. “They were going to find out from us tonight anyway.”

Hailey let out a sigh of relief. “Well, at least you know they know, and you won’t be walking into a shitstorm!”

I chuckled. “For real.”

“Okay, well, let’s get up there and get the truth all laid out. I’m starving!” Hailey said, turning on her heels before she practically sprinted back to her car.

When Emmerson and I got back into the truck, Lady barked from the backseat.

“it’s okay, girl, we’re going to see everyone!”

There was such a lightness in Emmerson’s voice. She seemed happy and not the least bit worried about our folks. It wasn’t like it was that big of a deal. So we kept our relationship a secret for a few weeks? It hadn’t been months.

Hailey parked behind Noah’s truck, and I pulled in next to her. As we started to walk up the steps, Noah stepped outside.

“Hey, big brother!” Emmerson said but then quickly stopped walking. “What’s wrong?”

He looked from her to me. “Mom and Dad know about the two of you, and Emmit and Addie know as well. They are not happy. Amy is in there now trying to calm them down.”

“Calm them down?” I asked. “Calm them down about what?”

Noah gave me a look that said I was a dumb fuck. “What is the one thing our parents asked us to never do?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Hailey blurted out. “Lie to them? Because all four of us have lied to them before and about worse things than this. You mean to tell me they’re having a conniption over this? This! Landon and Emmerson? Like no one saw it coming? Please!”

My sister was livid, and I loved her for being so upset on my account.

I laced my fingers with Emmerson’s. “Let’s just go in and get it all out in the open.”

Noah lifted a brow. “You do know my dad is a licensed open carrier, right?”

Emmerson pushed Noah out of the way. “Stop it, Noah.”

When we walked into Malcolm and Paislie’s living room, I could hear Amy talking.

“No one is screaming, that’s got to be a good sign, right?” Emmerson whispered.

I squeezed her hand. “It’s totally fine, sweetheart. Don’t worry.”

We walked into the kitchen and five sets of eyes swung in our direction. The only one who smiled was Amy.

Malcolm looked like he was ready to tear my head off, my father looked disappointed, but both my mother and Paislie slowly smiled.

“Before you say anything, Emmerson and I were planning on telling you tonight.”

Malcolm crossed his arms over his chest. “Telling us what exactly? That you’ve both been lying to us this whole time? That you’ve been secretly seeing each other since the night of your stupid fake engagement announcement?”

“Daddy, you need to calm down,” Emmerson said. “We both decided to keep this between us, at least for a little bit. We weren’t sure where this was going to take us, and to be honest, I didn’t want y’all interfering.”

“Interfering?” they all said in unison.

“Right word, but wrong one to use now,” Hailey whispered.

“She doesn’t mean it like that,” I said. “It’s just that we wanted to explore where our feelings were taking us without being under a microscope.”

My father huffed. “The whole country has your relationship under a microscope, what are you talking about?”

Emmerson dropped my hand and took a few steps forward. “They don’t matter, Emmit. But we knew the moment we even hinted at dating, you would all start giving your two cents.” She turned to Malcolm. “Daddy, as much as you love Landon like a son, let’s be honest: You’d be overbearing about this and act like a brute. And Mom, you would be over the moon and asking every day how things were going and hinting that maybe the engagement wasn’t fake. You’d put pressure on us, and we just wanted it to be between us for a bit.”

“The same goes for you too, Mom,” I chimed in. “And Dad, you would have been egging Malcolm on.”

My father smirked as he raised one shoulder. “I might have, maybe.”

I raised a single brow.

“Fine,” he huffed, tossing his hands in the air. “I would have egged him on simply to see you suffer. I love you that way.”

I smiled. “I know.”

“I still can’t believe you kept this from us,” my mother said with a slow shake of her head.

“We were planning on telling you tonight, like Emme said,” I told them.

Nodding, Emmerson added, “I wanted to talk to you about our relationship. Both Mom and Addie. I wanted you to know that I haven’t ever been this happy in all my life.”

Both my mother and Paislie covered their mouths with their hands, but you could still hear them each let out a sob.

Malcolm relaxed, if only slightly, and he stopped frowning so hard and looked at his daughter, who was smiling from ear to ear.

“And the engagement? Is it…still fake?” my father asked. “I mean, you did put an awfully expensive ring on that finger.”

My heart pounded out of my chest as I turned to face Emmerson. “It’s only been a little over a month, and we sorta went backwards with all of this, but I honestly can’t see my life without Emmerson in it.”

Tears welled up in her eyes, and she threw herself into my arms. I held her tightly and tried to ignore the way my body reacted to her being pressed against me, especially since Malcolm was only standing a few feet away.

“Christ, I knew this day was coming,” Malcolm stated, managing to look happy while still giving me a look that said he could kill me if he really wanted to.

“Oh, my heart is about to explode!” my mom said as she rushed over and wrapped me and Emmerson in her arms. Paislie, my sister, and finally Amy joined in, until Emmerson started to laugh, and they all broke free.

When the woman I had loved for as long as I could remember looked up at me, I placed my hand on the side of her face and whispered, “I meant every word, Emme. Don’t forget the promise you made me.”

One of her tears slipped free, and I brushed it away with my thumb. “I won’t ever forget,” she said.

“What promise?” Hailey asked.

With a slight shake of her head, Emmerson raised her eyes to mine and smiled up at me with the most loving expression on her face that I had ever seen.

Noah cleared his throat. “So, I’m kind of confused. You’re really dating, but you’re not engaged, but you kind of just asked her to marry you, so is the fake engagement a real engagement now?”

Everyone started laughing.

“Something like that, Noah,” Paislie said, kissing her son on the cheek.

My mother clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “I made homemade lasagna, so let’s go dig in!”

Emmerson grabbed my hand and held me back while everyone walked into the dining room.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“You told me what was in your heart earlier, and I feel like I need to as well.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

She glanced over at everyone in the dining room and then back at me. Chewing on her lip, she looked down at her hands as she gathered her courage.

“A couple of weeks ago,” she started, “when I was in that little bedroom near yours and you asked me what I was doing there…do you remember that?”

“Yes, I remember. What about it?”

“Well, I was daydreaming.”

Laughing, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to me, happy I could finally touch her like this and not have to hide my feelings. Of course, if Malcolm saw us, it would be a different story. “What were you daydreaming about?”

“Babies.”

I froze. “Wh-what?”

“I mean, not babies right now, but in the future. I was thinking about you and how that room would be the perfect nursery, and a part of me got sad because…well…I want to be the one filling it with babies.”

A rush of adrenaline swept through my entire body, leaving me damn near dizzy.

Emmerson dropped her head to stare at the floor. “I know, I know. We haven’t even been dating for very long, and I’ve got you going to all this wedding stuff. And now I’m talking about babies, and you probably want to run out the door.”

I placed my finger under her chin, lifting her gaze back to mine. “I don’t want to run anywhere, unless you’re right beside me.”

A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. “It doesn’t freak you out that I was standing in your house, dreaming about filling it with little Landons?”

“How about little Emmersons?”

Her cheeks turned the most adorable shade of pink.

“No, sweetheart, it doesn’t freak me out. Emme, you have no idea the things I’ve dreamed about when it comes to you. I’ve been so fucking scared you were going to meet some douchebag and fall in love with him and get married. Hell, if you wanted to, I’d marry you tomorrow.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“I’d marry you tomorrow.”

“But…but we—”

“Have known each other our whole lives. You make me feel like no one else ever has. I can’t imagine not waking up every day with you next to me.”

It was then that Lady came running into the room barking. It was like she was reminding us that there was food in the other room, and she wanted in on it.

I bent down, picked up the puppy, and gave her a stern look. “Not now, Lady. I’m asking your momma to marry me.”

I set her down and turned back to Emmerson, who damn near knocked me over when she threw herself at me.

“Yes! Yes! Let’s do it!” she cried. “Let’s get married as soon as possible.”

Staring at her with what I was sure was a happy, yet surprised, look, I replied, “Really?”

Emmerson let out a laugh-sob and quickly nodded her head. “Really!”

“Oh my God. Are we going to do this?”

She giggled. “Yes! Yes!”

She grabbed my hand and dragged me through the house and into the dining room. Everyone was already seated and, of course, eating. There was no waiting in this family.

“We’re getting married!” Emmerson yelled out.

No one flinched.

“Okay, I know this is going to sound crazy, but with you two, one can never know,” Hailey said. “Are we getting married for real this time?”

Emmerson jumped up and down. “Yes! As soon as we can!”

“There’s a seventy-two-hour waiting period after you get your license in Texas,” Noah stated.

Everyone turned to look at him, and he shrugged. “Amy and I had a little scare, and I looked up how fast you can get married in the state of Texas.”

“Wait, what?” Paislie said as Malcolm groaned.

“Condoms. How many times do I have to tell you, son. Condoms!” Malcolm pleaded.

“Dad.” Noah rolled his eyes.

“You brought it up,” Hailey said with a laugh.

Paislie stood and walked over to me and Emmerson. “Hold on one second. What’s happening? You just told us you were dating and now…now you want to get married. Why the rush?”

“Yes, why the rush?” Malcolm said, giving me a look that should have dropped me on the spot.

“Daddy, I’m not pregnant, so stop giving Landon the death stare.” Emmerson pointed at her father before she turned her attention to Paislie. “Mom, have you ever just done something crazy? Something that feels so right in your heart, but to everyone else seems insane?”

With a twinkle in her eye, Paislie looked at Malcolm and then back to Emmerson. She nodded.

“Landon and I have known each other all of our lives. A part of me has always loved him in a way that I haven’t ever loved anyone else. And, honestly,” she said, looking at me with tears building in those baby blues again, “I don’t want to wait another second to be his.”

“And I don’t want to wait either. I’ve loved Emmerson for as long as I can remember. Being her husband would truly be the greatest moment of my life,” I said as I met Emmerson’s gaze.

“That is so utterly romantic,” Amy whispered.

“It really is,” Hailey added with a sigh.

I looked at my parents. They both smiled.

“I’m not the least bit surprised,” my father said with a shit-eating grin. “From the day you two were old enough to walk, you’ve been inseparable.”

My mom wiped a tear from her eye. “All those times you declared you were going to marry Emmerson.”

Emmerson and my mother wrapped each other up in their arms as I smiled and watched the two women I loved more than anything cry tears of happiness.

With a clap of her hands, Paislie turned to the rest of the family. “Okay, folks, let’s eat up. We have a wedding to plan. A real one this time.”