Dylan had never really believed it would happen. She’d always prayed and hoped and wished, but deep down, she had always felt like her parents would never be able to sustain a relationship together again. When her mother had gotten out of the hospital and moved back into her father’s house, Dylan waited as though she were waiting for a stick of dynamite to blow up and ruin it all. She walked on eggshells those first few weeks, thinking that it could be her fault if her parents broke up again. And then when they’d gone off on vacation for a week, Dylan figured they’d come home and either be fighting or on the verge of breaking up. Only they’d come home with a ring on her mother’s finger and happier than she’d ever seen either of them in her whole life. She loved looking at her mother’s ring and would sometimes even get to wear it herself in the presence of her parents. She loved waving it around as though she were a glamorous model or queen of some undiscovered country. Dylan knew this ring meant that it was only a matter of time before her parents got married to each other and she couldn’t wait until that day came.

“But what if they break up before then?” Briahna had asked her one day, when they were at Briahna’s house playing outside.

“They won’t,” Dylan assured her friend. “I know my dad really wants the wedding to be soon. And so does my mom.”

“Yeah, but remember Tyler’s mom and dad?” Briahna reminded Dylan, speaking about a boy in their class at school whose parents had been living together and had never gotten married and then one day his dad had run off with Tyler’s mom’s best friend.

“It’s different,” Dylan wasn’t so assured this time. “Daddy loves my mom. And my mom loves him.”

“You should ask them,” Briahna suggested. “You know, just to make sure they’re really gonna do it.”

Dylan had waited a few days before she went to her mother, who was sitting in the living room watching television while her father was in his studio on the other side of the house mixing music together. Dylan walked into the living room and sat down across from her mother on the sofa.

“Hey, Dyl,” Becca smiled at her daughter and put the television on mute.

“Mom,” Dylan said, a serious expression on her face and Becca immediately raised her eyebrows wondering what in the world her daughter was about to inquire or say.

“What is it, baby?” Becca looked at Dylan and reached over to touch her arm.

“Mom, I need to know something. When are you and Dad gonna get married? And are you really gonna do it because Briahna told me today it could be like Tyler and you and Dad might not ever get married and break up,” Dylan spoke a mile a minute and Becca had trouble keeping up with her.

“Who’s Tyler? Your Uncle Tyler?” Becca asked, moving closer to her daughter.

“No, Tyler in our class, Mom!” Dylan was suddenly exasperated. “His mom and dad lived together and then his dad left his mom and married another lady.”

“Oh!” Becca tried not to show that she was about to burst into laughter at her daughter’s suggestion, and concealed the smirk that was trying to take over her face. “Dylan, no, of course it won’t be like your friend Tyler. Daddy and I are going to get married. Soon. I promise.”

“But when?” Dylan prodded, impatiently.

Becca sighed and reached over to pull her daughter closer to her. “Soon, girl. I promise. Don’t worry, okay?” She kissed the top of Dylan’s head and tried to assure her with a squeeze around the shoulders, but Dylan only smiled half-heartedly and hopped off the couch. “Where are you going, girl?” Becca asked her.

“I’m going to find Daddy,” Dylan replied, leaving the living room and heading down the hallway to the other end of the house. She knew she wasn’t supposed to interrupt her father when he was working, but she also knew this was important. So when she heard her mother call out, “Knock first, Dylan!” she ignored it and went to the door that led into his recording studio. Her dad was sitting behind a panel with a bunch of buttons and levers that Dylan wasn’t allowed to touch nor did she even know what they did. He had his headphones on and was nodding his head to a beat that Dylan couldn’t hear. He touched one of the levers and then hit a button, smiling to himself and leaning back in his chair, his hands resting on the back of his head. Dylan already knew he couldn’t hear her, so she went over to him and gently tapped him on the arm. Josh jumped and looked down at her.

“Hey, honey,” Josh hit another button and took his headphones off, resting them on the panel in front of him. “What are you doing in here?”

“Dad, I know I’m not supposed to bother you, but I just need to ask you something really, really important,” Dylan looked into his eyes, just as serious as she could and Josh searched her face, wondering what on earth was going on with his daughter.

“Sure, honey. You can ask me anything,” he smoothed her chestnut brown hair out and pulled her into his lap.

“When are you and Mom getting married?” she wanted to know. “Because Mom says soon and I want to know what ‘soon’ means!”

“We’ll probably get married next summer, I would hope,” Josh answered his daughter. “Why? Is your social calendar filling up already?” he was teasing her, but Dylan didn’t get it.

“No. But I just don’t want you to break up again,” Dylan didn’t hold back her tears and began to cry softly. “Because you and Mom always break up and I’m scared you will break up again!”

Josh’s heart melted and he shook his head, holding Dylan close to him. “Oh, baby girl. No. I promise you. Mom and I are not going to break up this time,” he was trying to be as soothing as he could be, but Dylan still cried into his chest. “Shh, honey. Dylan, look at me, okay?” Dylan lifted her head, tears streamed down her cheeks and Josh wiped them away with his thumb. “Mom and I have been through a lot but we love each other so much and I promise that this time we’re not going to break up.”

“Then why do you have to wait so long to get married?” Dylan cried again and Josh shook his head and stroked her hair with his fingers.

Well, why did they have to wait so long? They hadn’t really talked about dates. The high of being engaged had taken over anything else other than being parents to Dylan together, that the thought of sitting down and planning a wedding still seemed so far off. But Dylan was right. There wasn’t really a reason they had to wait any longer.

“How about I talk to Mom tonight and we’ll get back to you?” Josh smiled at her and Dylan only shrugged. “But honey, please know we’re not going to do what we did when you were younger. We’re really together this time for good. Okay?”

Dylan let out a shaky sigh and wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “Okay,” she hopped off her father’s lap and he kissed her cheek before she sauntered out the door. He watched after her and sighed slowly putting on his headphones again and listening to the demo of an R&B group he’d recently heard about through friends in the industry. His phone buzzed and he looked down to see a text from Becca.

We need to talk.

Josh typed back:

Dylan?

Yes. Did she come & find u?

Yeah. Really worried we won’t really get married.

I tried to tell her we were going to but ‘soon’ didn’t seem to make her pleased.

Josh sighed and stood up, closing off the studio and making his way down the hall to the living room. Becca was gazing off into space and Josh came behind her, nuzzling his lips into her neck. She giggled softly and turned around to kiss him back. He hopped over the back of the couch and made himself comfortable, lying down and resting his head in her lap. She looked down at him and smiled, languidly playing with his hair.

“So, our kid is a little paranoid,” Josh said, taking her hand and wrapping his knuckles around hers. “Think we did that to her?”

Becca sighed and nodded as Josh began to play with her hand in his. “Unfortunately. We’ve probably screwed her up more than we think we have.”

“She’s resilient,” Josh chuckled and looked up at Becca. He paused. “Maybe we should get married before too long.”

Becca looked at him and a smile spread across her face. “Yeah?”

Josh shrugged. “Why not? It’s not like we haven’t waited ten years. Don’t you think that’s long enough?”

“I-I guess,” Becca bit on her lower lip. She was quiet and thoughtful for a moment. “It makes sense, doesn’t it?”

“It makes perfect sense,” Josh sat up and pulled her to him. “What’s stopping us?”

Becca studied him for a minute, her eyes wandering from his blue eyes, to the smile that had won her over, to his perfectly chiseled cheekbones. He took her breath away and soon she was going to be this man’s wife. “Josh, nothing’s stopping us.” She moved closer to him and kissed his lips softly. “When should we tell her we’re getting married?”

Josh shrugged and kissed her back. “Well, she’s not too fond of the answer ‘soon’ is she?”

Becca chuckled against his lips and her arms wrapped around him. “Mm-m,”

“Where is our little time keeper anyway?” Josh’s hands had found their way up the back of Becca’s shirt and his fingers were toying with the clasp on her bra strap.

“She went to her room,” Becca straddled his lap. “We should probably go to ours.”

“Uh-huh,” Josh mumbled, his lips still on hers, their arms still around one another. Hurrying, they nearly ran up the stairs and dashed past Dylan’s room, Becca taking notice that her door was closed. In a matter of seconds they were on their bed, discarding clothes and undergarments as fast as they could.

“Mom?”

Becca gasped, hearing Dylan’s voice just outside the door.

“Shit!” Josh grabbed for his t-shirt that had fallen next to the bed. He quickly stood up and ran into the bathroom. Becca had managed to get up and dress just as Dylan opened the door.

“Hi!” she greeted her daughter, a little too eagerly.

Dylan eyed her mother quizzically. “What’s wrong? Why are you all out of breath? And where is Daddy?”

“Nothing’s wrong! And I was, um, cleaning and I was doing it really fast so that’s why I’m out of breath. And your dad went to the bathroom,” Becca was proud of herself for coming up with that lie as fast as she had.

“Oh,” Dylan answered, then looked back at Becca. “Can I go call Briahna and see if she wants to come swimming?”

“Uh huh. Sure,” Becca nodded quickly. She was still out of breath and her mind was racing with thoughts that if Dylan had come in just a second sooner and seen her parents that way, they would’ve scarred her even more.

Dylan turned and left and Josh poked his head out of the bathroom. “You’re good,” he told Becca, walking back over to her. “And since we obviously can’t finish what we started til tonight, let’s go look online at dates and places and whatever else we need to do to speed up this process.”

Becca shook her head and seductively ran her hand down Josh’s chest. “Who says we have to wait until tonight?” she whispered, pulling him towards the bed.

“Baby, Dylan’s-“

“We have a lock, silly,” she gestured to the door. “C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

Josh only grinned at his fiancé as he went over to the door, clicking the lock and looking back at Becca, who was sprawled on the bed like the sexiest centerfold Josh had ever laid eyes on. While Dylan made her phone call, Josh and Becca once more became lost in each other.