It's All Relative

by S. C. Stephens

  Jessie nodded and whispered, “Kai’s dad.”

  April’s eyes widened. “Oh…” She turned to sneak a peek at him, but Jessie grabbed her elbow. “He’s a bit…nervous, maybe you could not spy on him.”

  April frowned, then sighed. “Yeah, alright. I have to get ready for work anyway.” She sighed again and disappeared into her room and Jessie could have sworn that she murmured something about missing all of the good drama.

  Shaking her head at her friend, Jessie opened her bedroom door. Kai stirred and twisted his head to peek up at her. Stretching, he murmured, “Good morning.” He yawned right after he said it, a satisfied smile on his face. Softly closing the door behind her, Jessie wished she didn’t have to say what she was about to say. Maybe seeing the reluctance in her face, Kai frowned. “What’s wrong?”

  She sat on the edge of the bed as he sat up. Jessie could see the goose bumps on his arm and chest and rubbed his skin, warming him up where she could. He smiled and waited patiently for her to answer.

  Sighing, she nodded her head at the door. “Your dad is here, Kai.”

  Kai’s brow knotted as he stared at the door. “My dad’s here from…” His sentence trailed off as his eyes snapped back to Jessie. His eyebrows rose as his eyes widened. “Mason? Mason is here?”

  Jessie bit her lip and nodded as Kai flung back the covers and stood up. Jessie’s eyes drifted down his bare body before she reprimanded herself and made them stay locked on his face. He seemed a little shocked. Natural, Jessie supposed. She was a little shocked that Mason was here too. Stepping into his underwear and then some jeans, Kai shook his head. “Did he say what he wanted?” He shook his head as he zipped up his pants.

  Jessie shook her head. “No, just that he wants to see you.” She lowered her voice. “I think he was worried.”

  Kai paused in putting a shirt on. “Worried?” He slipped it on and smoothed it over that fabulous body. “Why would he be worried…about me?”

  Jessie gave him a wry smile and tilted her head. “Kai…regardless of when he found out about you, you’re his blood, he’s going to naturally be concerned over your well being.” She shrugged. “I’m sure when he didn’t hear from you for days…he panicked.”

  Kai nodded and tilted his head. He closed his eyes for a minute, then shook his head. “My phone died at the lodge…I never charged it back up.” He sighed. “My mom must be panicking too, since she hasn’t been able to get a hold of me either.”

  Jessie cleared her throat and Kai’s eyes immediately locked onto her. “What?” he asked cautiously.

  Jessie looked down at her bed, their bed, and picked at a loose piece of string coming off the sheet. “Well, your dad didn’t know how to find you…he probably thought you went back home…so he…”

  Hearing Kai sigh, she looked up at him. “He called my mom, didn’t he?”

  Jessie nodded. “And Grams.”

  Kai’s mouth dropped open, then he ran his hands down his face and sighed. Peeking at her between his fingers, he muttered, “I guess the honeymoon’s over, isn’t it?”

  Jessie grinned at his summation of their few days of bliss. Sighing, she stood up and laced her hands around his neck. “Back to the real world, babe.”

  Smiling softly, he slung his arms around her waist. “At least you’re still a part of that real world.”

  She smiled and kissed him. “I’m not going anywhere that you’re not.” They pulled apart, Kai sighing again, and Jessie bit her lip. “Let’s go see what your dad has to say.” Kai slumped, then nodded. Grabbing her hand, Kai pulled Jessie from the room. His face look relaxed, but Jessie felt the tension in his fingers; he was nervous about this.

  Mason looked up from examining a spot on his hand once they were at the end of the hallway. A small smile ghosted across his face as he stood up. He seemed nervous too to Jessie, but also relieved that Kai was still here, still around. Stepping towards the pair as they approached the couch, he extended a hand to Kai.

  “Kai, I’m glad I found you.”

  Kai looked at the hand being offered to him, but didn’t drop Jessie’s to take it. Furrowing his brow, he looked over the man that had rocked his world. “What are you doing here, Mason?”

  Mason sighed at the distance between them, then shoved his hand into his pocket. His aged face, a bit wearier than Jessie remembered from the first time she’d met him, relaxed into neutrality. “You ran out on me. I haven’t seen or heard from you for days…”

  Kai hung his head, then peeked up at him. “Are you here to fire me then?”

  Shock ran through Jessie as she glanced at Kai and then over to Mason. She hadn’t considered that Kai would get in trouble for ditching work. Sure, he’d had good reason, but a job was still a job, certain responsibilities were expected, regardless of the personal problems going on among the employees. It was why she’d had to call in with a fake illness every day.

  The same shock Jessie felt seemed to pass through Mason’s face, disturbing his attempt at emotional detachment. Sputtering, he stepped up to Kai and nearly reached out for him before stopping himself and putting his hand back in his pocket. “No, of course not, Kai. The job is yours, for as long as you want it.” He sighed. “I understand why you fled.” Exhaustion seemed to overtake him, and all trace of detachment vanished. “I just wanted to make sure that you were okay…son.”

  His gaze softened as he looked at Kai and Jessie couldn’t help but note the obvious similarities between father and son. Besides the eyes, there was something about the angle of the jaw, the slope of the nose, the basic bone structure. Kai’s coloring and ethnicity helped to mask a lot of the connection, but once you knew about the lineage, there were just too many markers to ignore the truth. This man was Kai’s father.

  Still having trouble accepting that, Kai stiffened, his hand loosely holding hers suddenly clenching it tight. “Don’t call me that,” he bit out.

  Mason sighed and looked away from him, nodding his head. Jessie brought her other hand over Kai’s clenched fist, trying to ease out the tension she felt there with soothing circles. Jessie understood his anger and confusion, but none of this was really Mason’s fault. From what Kai had told her, Mason had just found out about him.

  Kai’s death grip on her hand eased as Mason looked back at him. “I’m not trying to replace the father that raised you, Kai. That was never my intention.”

  Kai sniffed, then shrugged. “Then what are you doing here?”

  Mason tilted his eyes and bunched his brows. “Is it so hard for you to believe that I care about you?”

  Kai looked down, then over at Jessie. Jessie slung her arm around his stomach, holding him tight as she rested her head on his arm. Glancing back at Mason, he shrugged. “I’m just not sure what to think or feel right now. You’ll have to excuse me if I’m a little…uncertain how to act around you now.”

  Mason nodded, but his eyes were locked on Kai and Jessie’s embrace. Flicking his green-blue eyes between the two of them, he lifted an eyebrow. “Are you two…together?” His tone seemed nothing more than curious, a man of science studying an interesting phenomena of nature in front of him, but Jessie felt herself flush.

  Kai pulled her tight into his body. “What we are…isn’t really relevant.”

  Mason’s eyes snapped up to his, his face paling. “Oh, I know. I wasn’t meaning to pry…it’s perfectly fine if you are. There are no inherent genetic dangers in a sexual relationship between the two of you. I was just…curious.” He smiled apologetically, like out of everyone in the room, Kai should understand curiosity.

  Jessie felt her cheeks heat with the blunt way he talked, but Kai lightly shook his head, amused, even smiling a little. Maybe seeing an invitation in that, Mason pointed over to the couch. “Do you mind if we sit, Kai. I’d love to…just have a conversation with you.” He smiled widely for the first time. “I’d love to get to know you, if you’d let me?” He shrugged.

  Kai inhaled slowly. On the exhale, he smiled softly
and eventually nodded. “Alright…I can handle…talking.”

  Kai led her over to the couches, and Jessie sat beside him on one, still holding his hand supportively. Mason sat on the smaller one, still looking nervous, but happy too. He seemed to have been genuine in his desire to get to know Kai.

  Rubbing his hands over his slacks, he cleared his throat and gave Kai an apologetic smile. “You’ll forgive me if I also don’t know how to act around you.” He laughed lightly, shaking his head. “It’s not every day that you find out you have a twenty-three year old son.”

  Kai laughed at his remark, smiling over at Jessie. “Yeah, I suppose that could be a shock.”

  Hearing Mason sigh, they both directed their attention back to him. “I suppose I should start at the beginning. Your beginning anyway.” He indicated Kai on the couch, then smiled sadly. “Leilani Harper was the most beautiful, exotic, vibrant woman that I’d ever seen…I couldn’t help but fall madly in love with her…”

  His eyes alternating between reflection, remorse, and a lingering love, Mason began describing the series of events and bad choices that had led to Kai’s creation. Kai seemed uncomfortable for a lot of it, hearing such intimate, and not always flattering details about his mother. But by the end of Mason’s tale, he’d scooted to the edge of the couch, listening raptly.

  Mason had a way of painting their relationship that made it easy to see why they’d fallen so deeply for each other, even though it was wrong for them to do so. Jessie couldn’t help but steal glances at Kai throughout his confession. While she and Kai couldn’t be together for entirely different reasons, the heartache was the same. Jessie found herself sympathizing for Kai’s mother. She couldn’t imagine being torn between two lovers like that, and then having to leave one behind for the wellbeing of the child, the child that could have been fathered by either of them. But Jessie could understand being in love with someone who was forbidden.

  When Mason finished, Kai hung his head and nodded, seeming to better understand himself the turmoil his mother had gone through. As Jessie rubbed his back, she hoped that when he saw her again, he wasn’t too hard on her. Her choices hadn’t been the best, but her decision to stay with Uncle Nate had in large part been for Kai’s benefit. Either way, her decision must have been hard.

  As April was leaving for work, she came up and gave Kai a swift hug and a light kiss on the cheek, having heard parts of the tale about Kai’s sordid conception. Jessie watched the affectionate moment, a little surprised that she no longer felt jealous by the contact between them. Maybe that was because of the way that April and Kai’s relationship had shifted into an easy friendship, or because Jessie was now bonded with Kai in a way that left no question as to where his heart was, since he showed her every chance he got. Or maybe, it was just because she’d gotten to know Kai over the last few months, and that just wasn’t who he was. Kai was loyal and trustworthy, loving and honest. He was devoted to his family. He was there for anyone who needed a hand. Inside and out, Kai was just a good person. And besides being the man who occupied her bed and her heart, he was also her best friend…her soul mate.

  As Jessie waved goodbye to April, another good friend, she was certain that unlike his mother, Kai would never fall into the position where he had to choose between two lovers. Jessie was absolutely certain that Kai’s heart was hers…only hers.

  Jessie stood to make the father and son cups of coffee when the conversation shifted over to the men’s newfound relationship. Mason seemed genuinely inquisitive about Kai, about who he was. He endlessly expressed his regret over seeming standoffish to Kai upon his arrival here. The whole situation had just completely thrown him off-track, and Mason wasn’t someone who liked to be off-track. He’d been struggling with the task that had been given him from day one.

  After giving the pair their coffee, Jessie kissed Kai’s forehead and gave them some privacy in their getting-to-know-you moment. Smiling at hearing Kai laugh while he described the numerous bee stings he’d hidden from Mason on his first day, Jessie ducked into her room. Crawling into her bed, the scent of Kai still on her pillows, she listened to his deep voice combined with his father’s, drifting throughout her home.

  It filled Jessie with a surprising warmth that he was bonding with the man. Maybe that was because if Kai bonded with him, it would reaffirm that Uncle Nate wasn’t his real dad, reaffirm that it was okay for them to be together. Jessie knew in her heart that being with Kai was the absolute right path for her, and she knew that they were strangers, in that sense, but still, him having a close tie to someone that didn’t have a branch on the Harper family tree…could only be a good thing.

  Smiling at that thought, Jessie closed her eyes, a vision of Kai’s sea-green ones washing her away into slumber.

  ************

  Mason shook his son’s hand as he stood to leave. That had gone smoother than he’d ever hoped it would. Kai constantly surprised him, and his willingness to let a complete stranger into his life, into his heart, warmed Mason in a way that he’d never, ever expected. A rush of pride swept into Mason as he smiled back at the attractive man in front of him. While Kai’s looks were clearly Leilani’s, Mason thought he saw a bit of himself in there too, and not just in the lookalike eyes. There was something in the jaw, the brow-line, a trace of his lineage that couldn’t quite be hidden.

  And the boy was smart, talented. Mason liked to think that he’d played a large part in that department, if not in the physical one. Kai could make big strides in their relatively small community, and Mason had every intention of helping him, if he could.

  But all of those things weren’t really what gave Mason the swell of fatherly pride No, Mason was proud of Kai because he was a good man. Maybe that part had more to do with his upbringing, Mason wasn’t sure. The studies of nature versus nurture were open to far too much interpretation in his opinion. But regardless of how he came to be a fine example of the male species, he was, and Mason’s ego swelled a little over that fact.

  “Will you be staying with us then, Kai?” he asked him, his head tilted inquisitively. He wanted to hold his breath, wanted to have hope that he would choose to stay, choose to build on the relationship that they’d started today. It never failed to surprise him just how much he suddenly wanted a lasting connection with his son.

  Kai slipped his hands in his back pocket once their handshake ended. Sighing, he looked down, then slowly back up at Mason. “Yes. I’m going to stay here…in Denver.”

  He glanced back down the hall, where the woman who was obviously more than just a cousin to him had disappeared to. Mason had been a little shocked to see that they’d clearly moved into a physical relationship, but genetically it didn’t much matter, since Kai wasn’t blood related. Even then, first cousins rarely had children with problems. It was only generation after generation of inbreeding that the serious problems started cropping up. No, it was much more of a social stigma than a biological one. Mason’s own surprise had been born from that stigma, but his rational mind had quickly dismissed it. Who was he to say what couple in love should or should not be together?

  Kai’s eyes returned to him, a small smile on his lips. “Denver is my home.” He tilted his head at Mason, in almost the same way Mason had at him. “And I’d be honored to keep working for you.”

  Mason smiled brightly and clapped him on the shoulder. “Good…you would have been…impossible to replace.”

  Kai smiled widely, his face much more relaxed than when Mason had first walked in here. Mason had been sure, once Kai had left him days ago, that he’d fled back home, back to the parents who’d lied to him. He’d been very surprised when he’d talked to Leilani and discovered that not only had Kai not gone home, but he hadn’t even talked to her yet. Mason had inadvertently terrified the woman, since she hadn’t been able to contact Kai in days either.

  Promising her that he’d find Kai and immediately contact her, he’d exhausted all of his resources to find his son. He’d gone to his apartme
nt early on, but the tenets he’d found there had only shrugged and admitted that they hadn’t seen him in awhile. Upon Leilani’s advice, Mason had grudgingly called Kai’s grandmother in town this morning. Leilani had voiced her reciprocated dislike of the woman, and Mason had been expecting a cold shoulder from the person who knew the whole sordid story but had never once searched him out. But she had been surprisingly helpful, concerned even, and had directed Mason to Kai’s cousin, Jessie.

  Mason hadn’t really been expecting to find him here. While he’d met Jessie once before, he hadn’t realized how bonded she and Kai were, more so than probably any other family member knew. Mason supposed he owed Jessie a thanks for that. If it weren’t for her, Kai may have indeed fled back home. His love for the woman, a woman that society deemed he shouldn’t be with, had kept him in the city. It made Mason smile that at least one good thing had come out of his poorly delivered revelation to Kai, since he could now love his pseudo-cousin with a clear conscience.

  Kai looked down, smiling at the compliment, and then shrugged. “I hope you don’t mind, but I need a little more time off.” His lips twisted as he looked up at Mason. “I need to see my parents.”