She sucks in a deep breath as instructed by Roman, rolls her neck as suggested by Dean, and performs a few stretches, offered up by Seth. Each attempt at calming her anxiety is appreciated, no matter how unsuccessful. She kisses all of them, cupping their faces, and she's not sure why it feels like she's saying goodbye.
"We're not goin' anywhere," Roman assures her. She gulps, staring up at him, and he smiles, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "Everything's gonna be alright, no matter what." He bends down to press the softest kiss to her lips before whispering against them, "Oute alofa tele ia te oe."
Her heart swells like that of the Grinch near the end of the movie, and she knows—hopes—she'll feel this way every time he says it for the rest of her life. "I love you, too." He tilts his head and purses his full lips, and she's already fully prepared to cry before she's even started. He's trying to keep the situation as natural and normal for her as possible. She wonders what she must have done in her previous life to deserve these three in her current one. "Oute alofa fo'i ia te oe," she corrects for her handsome teacher.
The three most important men in her life try to settle in as she starts the Facetime call with her mother. Roman, the larger of the two, takes the chair near the window, leaving Seth and Dean to perch at the foot of the king-size bed. Dean shoves Seth to give himself more room, and she sighs, smiling once again just before one of the most significant conversations of her life. They are her strength, her courage, her light.
"Hi, honey!"
Her attention returns to the screen where her beautiful mother is giggling and covering her face. She's embarrassed every time she's on screen, still so uncomfortable with the advances of technology, and her daughter finds it to be the most endearing quirk she's ever witnessed. Tears sting her eyes before she's even spoken, and she's not sure how she'll ever make it through this.
"My Dyani!" her mother exclaims. Her inky, graying hair is braided over one shoulder, she's wrapped in her customary shawl, and though she appears to have aged, her olive skin is still wrinkle-free. "Always and forever my gorgeous baby girl. How are you?"
Dyani's chest tightens, threatening to crack her ribs and squish her heart. She clears her throat and takes a deep breath, glancing at the boys before returning her unusual emerald eyes to the screen. "Hi, mommy," she smiles. "I'm… pretty great, actually. How are you?"
"Better now that I'm talking to you! Please tell me what's going on in your life. How's the road? And the food? Are the beds comfortable?"
Dyani giggles, and it comes out with a cry. She's able to wipe the tears from her eyes before they fall without her mother noticing. "Well, Mommy, something … pretty big is going on in my life right now. I have some … some news."
Winona claps her hands and snickers, her neck practically disappearing with her excitement. "Are we talking about a man?" she asks, extending the last word much longer than is necessary.
Her daughter chooses not to clarify. "Yes, we are," she says.
"Tell me all about him!"
Dyani inhales through her nostrils and exhales through her mouth. "I'm gonna tell you everything, but I really need you to let me get everything out, okay, before you say anything. Can you do that?"
Wavering just a bit, Winona nods. "Of course, dear."
After swallowing, Dyani begins. "His name is Roman Reigns."
"I've seen him on TV!" Dyani smiles. "Sorry."
"We've been friends for a while, but about two years ago, we met up at a wedding. It was one of those no-one-else-in-the-room kinda things, you know? Hundreds of people between us, but I saw only him." Her mom coos and Dyani raises her eyes to Roman, who's also grinning and looking down at the hotel room carpet. "We've been together ever since." She decides to spare her mother the more tawdry details of the night she and Roman spent together.
Her mother squeals. "You've been with him for two years and you never said anything?" she exclaims, and then immediately continues, "So! Are you calling about—"
"Mom," Dyani interrupts, "I'm not finished."
"Oh … okay. I'm sorry." The confusion is evident, and Dyani knows it's only going to get worse.
"About … a year later …" She sniffs, the tears coming on stronger, and she's not sure how much longer she'll be able to hide them. "It happened again." She tries to smile, shrugs, and salty rivers begin cascading down her cheeks.
"What do you mean 'it happened again'?"
"I mean … I fell in love again."
"Oh, honey, that's so sweet!"
Dyani shakes her head. "No, Mom … I didn't fall in love with Roman again." Winona's brows furrow. "I fell in love with one of his best friends, a brother, basically." She brushes a tear away with a knuckle, this time looking over the monitor to meet Seth's soulful eyes, which provide her the strength to keep going. "His name is Seth Rollins. We were on a plane together that lost an engine …"
"Wait!" her mother squeaks, putting a hand up. "Your plane crashed?"
"We thought it was going to," she chuckles, and Seth smirks, nodding. "But it allowed us to tell each other how we felt and for how long … and we kissed, and I knew there was no way I could live without Roman or Seth."
"Dyani, darling, I'm not understanding …"
"I know, Mom. And I'm sorry. I'm also not finished." The look Winona gives her is enough to freeze the blood in her veins, but she's come this far, and there's no way she's leaving out her soulmate.
Dyani smiles softly, tears now falling freely, and she makes no move to stop them or wipe them away. "Six months ago," she weeps, head tilting as she pulls her long sleeves down over her hands to keep from endlessly picking at her nails, "It happened one more time." She looks up at Dean, shaking her head as he kisses the air and winks at her. "Dean's always been my best friend, and it took us coming to blows to realize that … just, something ran deeper between us, and it felt suffocating and ancient, and I know this isn't our first life together."
Dyani gazes at her boys for a long moment. She remembers the dance she shared with Roman, the desperate kiss with Seth, and the fire in Dean's eyes when she'd slapped him right across his handsome face. She remembers the various uncomfortable conversations which inevitably followed the start of her relationships with Seth and Dean. And as she glances down at the brand new piece of jewelry on her left ring finger—the one with three very differently shaped diamonds, somehow representing each man, set in a rose gold band, which again was decorated with glittering diamonds—she remembers that perfect night. Every beautiful, emotional, wet, and sweaty moment of the engagement and the celebration that followed.
"So you're… you're dating three men?" Winona ventures.
Dyani shakes her head, angling the ring this way and that so she can admire the blinding sparkle. "No, Mom."
"Oh, good grief, Dyani," her mother sighs, clutching her chest.
"I'm engaged to three men." She bites her lip and nods once—it's over, it's done, she got it all out. "All three of them are the loves of my life."
"Dyani, you're not making any sense, dear. A woman can't be with three men," Winona dismisses with the flick of a wrist. "That's ridiculous."
Dyani's lips are a tight smile. "It's not ridiculous, Mommy, and I am with three men. I love them more than anything, they love me, they love each other as brothers, and I'm gonna marry them however I can." Her mother's dumbfounded expression is one she expected, but it doesn't make it hurt any less.
"Is this a joke?" Winona asks. "Are you trying to be funny? Because this most certainly is not funny."
"Mom, I'm not … trying to be funny. I'm telling you all of this because we're having a ceremony in two weeks in Hawaii … and I want you to be there. Or if you can't, I'd like for you to be at the one I'm—we're—hoping to have … in Montana." She gulps. "On the reservation."
The older woman's eyes nearly pop out of her head, and Dyani feels an ice pick through her heart. Her face crinkles with the effort of crying, no longer trying to hide it, though it's clear her mother isn't concerned with her daughter's feelings so much as the life she's chosen to live. She never expected Winona to welcome three sons-in-law with open arms, but she'd held onto hope that she would at least keep an open mind. Listen to her little girl's words about how much these men mean to her and how much she means to them, and listen to the fact that neither the men nor Dyani had entered into this relationship lightly. In all actuality, the beginnings of Seth's and Dean's relationships were tied for the worst and best times of her life.
"On the reservation?" Winona gasps. "What have these men done to you to make you think our people would even let any of you step foot on our land?"
"Don't say that, Mommy," Dyani weeps, covering her reddening face with both hands.
Mere seconds pass before she feels a set of strong hands squeeze her upper arms and pull her up from the chair, subsequently catching her when her legs turn to Jello. She recognizes the touch instantly as that of Seth Rollins, and she allows him to lead her away from the laptop, away from her mother. Dean and Roman stand, pressing kisses to her forehead and cheek, and Dyani is directed into the bathroom by Seth. He closes the door behind them and holds tightly onto her hand as he takes a seat on the cold, hard floor. He tugs her onto his lap, bending his knees to bring her closer, and she tucks her face into the junction of his neck and shoulder. She brings her fingers to his chin, nails scratching at his dark, thick beard, and comfort slowly engulfs her.
Though she seeks solace in all three of her fiancés, Seth simply oozes a calming aura, and his arms around her help her to forget whatever is causing her pain or grief. When he held her on the plane they'd believed to be their tomb, she hadn't feared death. She was even reassured that Roman would be okay because she'd exited this life with one of his brothers, whom he'd known would take care of her.
"I know you want her there, sweetheart," Seth spoke softly against her ear, the rumble of his tone creating goosebumps all over her skin. "We want her there, too. But if she doesn't make it, that doesn't make her a bad person. It doesn't make you a bad person. And I really don't think it means she doesn't love you or loves you any less than she did before you told her about us. She's just … old-fashioned. She'll come around."
Dyani smiles, snuggling in closer to one of the three men of her dreams, and she closes her eyes. In her mind, she hears the convincing words spoken in a confident yet friendly manner to her mother by Roman as he attempts to change her mind. Dean, on the other hand, would tell Winona exactly what's on his mind, good, bad, or ugly in a stern, if not confrontational, tone. If Seth were out there, he would be the level-headed one, speaking logic and facts. God, she loves them.
She's not sure how much time passes before there's a light knock at the door. Seth grants entry after the okay from Dyani, and Roman and Dean force their giant frames into the smallish hotel bathroom. The Samoan somehow folds himself into a sitting position in front of her while Dean chooses the toilet, kicking the lid down before taking a seat. He apologizes with sparkling sapphire eyes at the piercing echo the act produces. Roman smiles at Dyani and takes her hand, and she knows that smile—dripping with pity and sympathy. Dean clasps his hands together in front of his mouth as he props his elbows on his knees—also super telling.
"She's not coming," Dyani spares them from having to tell her.
"I'm sorry, baby girl," Roman rumbles, squeezing her hand. She feels Seth's arms clench tighter around her.
Dyani nods, gulping down the rest of her tears because while she loves her mother, she simply cannot allow her to ruin the best day of her life. She smiles at Roman despite the tears, grips one of Seth's forearms, and then reaches that hand out to apply pressure to Dean's knee.
"It's okay," she says, though it really isn't okay. Maybe it will be in the future, but not right now. "As long as I'm there and you three are there and the guy performing the ceremony is there, I'll be the happiest girl in the world."
"Are you sure?" Dean asks, propping his chin on his hands. "I know how much you wanted this." They all know, but it has taken a long time for them to stop using we, to stop speaking for one another and as a unit, and Dyani never misses an opportunity to remind them.
Dyani shrugs. "I do want her there, and I do want a ceremony on our land, but if it's not what the Great Spirit wants for me, then I have to accept that. The Great Spirit led me to you three—I shouldn't ask for or expect anything more."
Dean sighs, shaking his head. "You're amazing, kid."
Dyani smirks. "I am, huh?"