196 Priscilla's Vows

196 Priscilla's Vows
You tell them anything and everything in your heart. You do it when you’re standing up there in front of me with your family and friends surrounding you four. But remember to do it every day when it’s just you and them. Especially on the hard days. – Trigg

Geo leaned over and gave Denver a quick kiss. “I love you, too, Turtle Dove.”

“Okay,” Trigg said. “I get Babe and Sweet Thing. But how the hell did you end up with Turtle Dove?”

Denver chuckled as Porthos and Geo moved towards each other. “My sister and I have matching Two Turtle Dove tattoos.”

“That’s sweet,” Trigg said as the rest of the quad laughed.

“Yeah, I have Donatello and Michaelangelo and Faith has Leonardo and Rapheal.”

“What?”

With an amused laugh, Denver unbuttoned his shirt to expose the tattoos on his back. Two doves faced each other with one wearing an orange mask and the other purple. The one in the orange mask was twirling nunchakus while the other one twirled a Bo staff. Hollow outlines of the other two rounded out the design under a banner of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Doves.

“I’ll be honest,” Trigg admitted, “I’m not sure if I should be impressed, amused, or worried.”

“Probably all of the above,” Denver suggested. “This is my $375 proof that I love my sister and that together, we make bad decisions.”

“No,” Porthos shook his head. “That’s proof that your sister is very persuasive. She only talked me into paying $300 for each proof of her persuasion.”

“What did she talk you into?” Athos asked.

Denver turned and motioned for his sister to come join them. He signed to her and she nodded as the three men stood together and she and Priscilla stood on the outside. They all held out their left arm and put them side by side.

Trigg had seen the different dinosaur tattoos that they all had. With them all side by side, it created a single scene. Denver was in the middle and had a flaming disco ball meteor crashing down onto the dino disco party. Under each dinosaur was a single word that when together read The Last Saturday Night Fever.

Reading the tattoo out loud, Trigg started laughing. “That’s pretty cool. Did you draw them up? Oh Shit! She can’t hear me, can she?”

They laughed as Denver translated the compliment and question. She signed back her thanks and answer. He laughed at something that she said before telling Trigg, “She thanks you for the compliment. Yes, she drew them. She’ll draw one for you too.”

“Really?”

“Be careful of what you ask for,” Athos warned causing most of his friends to laugh.

“I’ll think on it while Priss is giving her vows.”

“No, you won’t,” Camille told her father. “You’re going to be thinking about cake.”

“You don’t have a cake with a Scoville rating, do you?”

Priscilla and her men laughed. “No,” she told him. “None of our cakes have a Scoville rating.”

Trigg kissed her cheek, “Perfect.” He leaned in and kissed Faith on her cheek and signed the few words that he knew. Or thought he did.

Seeing the sign, Faith started laughing and the others that signed looked at Trigg as if he had just said something bad. Which is exactly what happened. He looked at their faces and suddenly got worried. Still laughing, Faith went back to sit in her seat with the personal translator that worked for her sitting across from her.

“I’m just guessing,” Trigg said, “but I don’t think I just signed cake and milk.”

“That’s what you think you said,” Denver said as the others began laughing.

“Yeah, cake,” he made a triangle with his hands. The tips of his thumbs touched, so did the tips of his pointer fingers at the bottom of the triangle. His other fingers were straight and touching one another. “You make the shape of a slice of cake.”

“Pussy,” Denver corrected.

“Sooooo….., this,” he held out one pointer finger and pulled the fingers of his other hand down it multiple times, “is not milk?”

“How the hell do you get milk out of that?” Geo asked.

“I could probably get some milk out of yours,” Priscilla teased.

“You have proof of getting something out of us,” Porthos teased.

“Blow. Job.” Denver told Trigg to everyone else’s amusement.

“Son of a bitch!” Trigg declared. “Girl, give them your vows while I delete this damned app.”

Priscilla laughed as he pulled his phone out and started scrolling through his apps. She turned so that she was facing her men. Holding out her hands, her three handsome men linked their hands together.

“The three of you were there for me for the worst parts of my life.” She smiled at Denver, “You were my best frenemy, and you let me tag along when I felt like I didn’t belong.” Looking at Porthos, she ignored the single tear that slipped out of her eye. “You were my protector when I was an easy target for high school bullies.”

Swallowing, she looked at Geo as he stood in the middle of her three handsome men. “You saw my panic attacks and told me that they were okay. That I was okay.”

“You all quietly supported me while my Momma Becks was sick. Always there, always just a call or text message away. No matter where you were. There were stolen moments, weekend getaways, and a few incidents in the hay barn.”

There were several snickers from some of the other Lowery’s.

“Pitchfork,” Molly called out.

“Yes, daddy, I remembered the pitchfork after that.”

“I just don’t ever need to see that ever again, little pretty.”

She chuckled as she shook her head. “Even on the way out to Vegas, you three always found a way to have a room that I could go and fall apart in. Even if I nearly got caught by my sister on more than one occasion.”

Although she tried not to, she found herself looking at Eliza who made the I’m watching you motion with her hand. Giving a small laugh, she shrugged. “Sorry? So not sorry.”

Denver squeezed her hand pulling her attention back to them. “Then, there was everything that happened with bacon bit. I don’t think I realized how close I came to losing you guys. Losing my family. Nearly losing myself.”

“You’ve also been here for the best of everything. Two daughters. A son. My college graduation. J & L becoming a real business and not just a hobby. The three of you and Darkness painting our new offices and doing all the work because Camille and I were both pregnant.”

“Geo getting accepted into Harvard Law. Porthos graduated from the police academy, again. Denver going top ten as Faith’s song The Dirt Man.”

She looked at her father and his many wives. Among her many brothers and sisters were their three kids who were also asleep on their grandparents’ chests and laps. “First steps. First words. First teeth. First haircuts, although that one was not all that great.”

Looking back at her men, she smiled. “I love you three.”