"I'm sorry. I don't like to think of you guys as stressors, either. Frankly, I know you all do your best whenever we're together to try to lower my blood pressure as best you can, and you all are amazing at it."
They all heard that as they were great lovers, and they were more than happy to gobble that up.
"But the fact remains that you're all just waiting for me to make up my mind about you, and even though it's been a while, I'm sorry to say that I don't feel as if I'm any closer to picking anyone. I love all three of you, and I'm not ashamed in the least to say so."
Jace looked at his brothers, who were nodding. "We love you, too, darlin', and the last thing we want to do is be the cause of you being all wrapped around the axle."
To her horror, Laurie realized that she was very close to tears. "Th-thank you. That's why I've decided that I need to take some time to think. Longer than just one weekend a month."
The men, who had moved forward in their chairs when they saw how upset she was and felt the need to comfort her, leaned back a bit.
"Oh."
"So, you don't want to see us?" Adam asked, unable to not sound somewhat hurt.
"No, I do. That's the problem."
"It's not a problem to us, hon," Ryan reassured.
"But I'm supposed to be choosing one of you, and I just can't seem to get there. So, I want to take a step back from all of you." It was going to kill her, but she added, because she felt she should, "Of course, that means that you are all free to date anyone else you might like to while I'm detached from you."
Jace said it first, in that strong, firm way of his. "I'm not about to date anyone else."
The others chimed in with, "Me, either," and, "I've found the woman I want."
Adam came to kneel in front of her, taking her hands in his. "I will hate not seeing you, Laur, but I understand. I'll be here whenever you're ready again."
Then he kissed her hands and moved back to his chair.
That set her to crying quietly, of course.
Ryan was next, kneeling down as if he was a knight pledging his fealty to his lady. "The same goes for me. I'll wait as long as you need me to. You're more than worth any amount of time you need to take." He did the same as his brother then sat back.
Jace knelt gracefully down and gathered her small hands in his. "I think you can see that none of us wants to give you up, either, darlin'." He reached up and brushed her tears away with the side of his thumb. "I'm sorry that you're feeling overwhelmed by our unusual situation, and I want you to take whatever time you need to feel better."
When he'd returned to his chair, she stood, and they filed out reluctantly after giving her tight, hard but very gentlemanly hugs. No one tried to take it any further, even Ryan, who sometimes took things a bit too far.
Later that evening, she got a text from Jace in the group text that she had going with all of them.
I'm sorry to bother you, but we have a pertinent question: does this mean that you don't want to hear from us at all, or is it okay for us to text you or email you but not call you? I—we—want to do what we can to help you, but not if it's not what you want from us.
She really didn't even want to decide about this, but it was a good question. It was a Jace question, she'd be willing to bet, and everyone else had just agreed.
Text, I think, but not emails or calls. Thank you for asking. I love you all very much.
They sent their unequivocal love back, all mentioning that they were here if she wanted to talk at any time.
And the tears she had been able to hold at bay since they'd left began to stream down her cheeks.
It had only been a few weeks since she'd done her little moratorium to keep them from her life. And even though they all checked in on her regularly, it had been horrible. She felt much worse now without all of their shenanigans to keep her from thinking about how unhappy she was. Before, if she