Hear Me, Daddy: Rainbow Room Book 2

by L. Michael

  “I looked up how to tie a Windsor knot on Google. It looked so easy!”

  Stepping up to him, I kissed his nose and batted his hands away. When I was sure he looked at me, I spoke. “It is easy when you’ve done it like a hundred times, Cupcake.”

  “But your knot is perfect!”

  “Because I do it every day. You like to run around in comfy clothes. I get to practice my knot every day.” That had Henry giggling, and I had to grab his hip with one hand to hold him still. “Stay still, or we’ll never get your knot done.”

  “I can’t stay still. I’m so excited!” Bouncing on his toes, Henry was all smiles and happiness. “Ava’s getting married today!”

  “That she is, and you look stunning.” Finishing his knot, I patted his chest and kissed his nose. “There you go.”

  “Do I look good?”

  “You look perfect, Cupcake.”

  “So do you, Daddy.” Henry got up on his toes and kissed me. A brief kiss, then Henry was back to bouncing. “Are we still on time? Do we need to go soon?”

  “Yes, Cupcake. We are still on time, and yes, we need to get going soon. So why don’t you check if you have everything you need.”

  “Right. Yes.” Turning around, Henry started to rush through the apartment while he talked himself through his list. “Rings. Speech. Emergency bag for Ava.”

  Sitting back down on the sofa, I watched Henry. Over the last few weeks, he’d thrived in his role as best man. He was determined to gift Ava with the best wedding possible. If he never sold another book, he could easily start a career as a wedding planner.

  Weeks ago, I realized that before Henry could concentrate on his mission to plan the perfect wedding, he needed some time off. Some time away from everything. So before he could go into wedding planner mode, I took him to Florida. Just some fun times at the beach and theme parks. To have him enjoy it, I even invited Jakob and Sam and Darrell and Josh because they were his family now.

  When we returned from our trip, Henry dove headfirst into planning the perfect wedding. At first, I was worried that he only used it as an outlet for some leftover emotional stress. But I quickly realized that he needed to do this for his aunt.

  What Ava did took a lot of strength and courage. After I introduced Special Agent Marcus O’Hare to Ava, she’d told him everything she kept secret for so long.

  While Ava and I had agreed that Henry didn’t need to know the full extent of the Altmanns's actions, Ava and Marcus had filled me in two days after the bust. Ava had told us everything about the gold and money her grandfather and father had brought from Germany. All while they fled the authorities after the second world war. She’d told us everything about the blood money the family used to build the compound on. The family sold stolen paintings and jewelry on the black market for cash.

  For hours, Ava talked about her guilt. The guilt she carried because she understood the full extent of her family's crimes. Past and present. Current crimes included bribing authorities in Pinewood and the assaults on Jewish and black people in Kentucky. All things, I already heard from Henry.

  What was new was their involvement in drugs and weapons—both crimes put them in place to be investigated by the FBI. But not only was the FBI involved in the case. Other authorities had an interest in them. CIA. ATF. All worried about national security. There was a compound of right-wing terrorists with access to money and weapons. No wonder they were worried. With the arrests done, no one would see the light of day again, and no plea deals offered.

  But what Ava wanted to keep from Henry was something worse than drugs and guns. Henry knew nothing about the murders. He knew nothing about the five men who tried to run and got caught by Henry’s father. He knew nothing about the real terror that took place on the compound. And like Ava, I would do everything to keep Henry from this. He’d suffered enough, and the burden of knowing would break him. Both Ava and I wanted to protect the sweet soul Henry had.

  Even though Henry had no idea about the details of the confession, he knew that Ava was the reason he was finally free. So he did the only thing he could. He could make this a wedding that Ava and Miles would never forget.

  “Daddy?”

  Taking a deep breath, I looked up at Henry and smiled. “Sorry, I was lost in thoughts. Are you good to go?”

  “Yes! I have everything I need. We need to get going, so we are there when the caterer arrives.”

  “You have the whips and cuffs?”

  “What?” Henry blinked and stared at my lips to make sure that he’d understood what I’d said. “Why would I need whips and cuffs?”

  “To make sure that everyone works as hard as you want them to and to punish them if they don’t.”

  “Oh, that reminds me. I saw some cute, fluffy cuffs yesterday. Can we order them? Please, Daddy?”

  “Do I get a sprinkled please today?”

  “No, Daddy. Sprinkles are just for my desserts.” Henry laughed and grabbed my hand to pull me off the sofa. “Now come on. We need to check on the caterer. Ava will arrive soon after.”

  Two hours later, I stood at a bar in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and admired the view. Henry had spent a hell of a lot of money to cater the perfect wedding for Ava, and every penny was worth it. There were torches and candles everywhere, chains of lights arranged in the trees, and flower arrangements complemented the flowers that grew naturally. It was perfect in every way, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Henry would like a wedding like this for himself.

  “Why are you frowning like this at my wedding?”

  “Nothing.” Collecting my thoughts, I turned to Miles, who appeared at my side. “What has you looking for the bar before your wedding?”

  “I‘m nervous.” Miles chuckled and ordered a glass of whiskey. “There are only six guests, but Henry arranged a wedding for two hundred people. Don’t you think that it’s a bit much?”

  “Believe me, I thwarted a few of his decisions, but stopping him was impossible.” Henry knew from the beginning that it would be just a small ceremony with only him, me, Miles's parents, and Miles’s sister and her husband. But he still wanted the most perfect, romantic wedding for his aunt. “Henry loves Ava and wants only the best for her. And you, for that matter.”

  “I know.” Taking the whiskey from the waiter, Miles smiled at me. “When I met Ava, the second sentence she said to me was, My nephew is living with me. You either get both of us or nothing at all.”

  “Finally. Now I know where Henry got his sass.” Miles and I laughed. We clinked our glasses together. “You’re going to be fine, I promise. Henry maybe went a little overboard, but it’s going to be perfect.”

  “God, I can’t believe that we’re going to get married.”

  “You two love each other. Getting married is the next logical step.”

  “So, does that mean that you want to get married, too?”

  For a second, I just stared at him and then laughed out loud. “Ava put you up on this, didn’t she?”

  “I told her you would see right through that.” Miles laughed and raised his glass to salute me. “I think we should meet up once a week to catch up on what those two are up to.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me.” Over Miles's shoulder, I saw Henry waving his hand in my direction from the dressing room. “Okay, it looks like it’s time to get ready.”

  “Caden?”

  “Yes?”

  “We’re going to be okay. As a family.”

  “Family.” Putting my glass down, I hugged Miles before I stepped back and grinned. “Now go and freak out because you’re getting married.”

  The ceremony was beautiful. It was romantic and perfect, and I couldn’t be prouder of Henry for arranging all of this. And I couldn’t stop thinking about Miles's words.

  Do I want to get married? Yes. Do I want to marry Henry? Hell, yes.

  He was the one for me. And I wanted what Ava and Miles had. Okay, maybe not a big ceremony like this, but I wanted to tie the knot with Henry.


  I waited patiently in the background until it was my turn to congratulate the happy couple. I hugged first Ava and then Miles, only to be held back by Ava when I wanted to step down.

  “You do realize there is a perfect way to tie the knot.”

  “What?”

  “Ready to tie a real knot?”

  What the hell? I was still wondering if you could be high from endorphins when Henry walked over to me. He was smiling, but there was something odd about it. It didn’t reach his eyes. When I glanced down, I could see that his hands were clenched into fists.

  “Cupcake?”

  “Umm, I just…” Closing his eyes, Henry just blurted it out. “I got a marriage license for us. Umm. And if you want, we can get married, too. Like now. The officiant knows about it, and he is just waiting for us. I mean, if you say yes, that is.”

  “Wait…what?” Staring at Henry, I tried to get what he was saying. “We can get married now?”

  “Yes?”

  Looking at my sweet Henry, I saw hope and fear in his eyes. Not to mention I could feel Ava’s glare in my back. Married. Now. Here. Then it suddenly made sense.

  “You little shit. You planned this. That’s why you went overboard with the wedding.”

  “No! Well, not right away. But as I planned the wedding, I was just…well, it had me thinking and I…”

  “Let’s do it.”

  “What?”

  “Let’s do it. Let’s get married.” Oh my god. I was going to do this. Here. Now. I was going to get married. Laughing out loud, I made sure that Henry was looking at my lips. “Let’s get married, Henry.”

  “They’re going to hate us.”

  “Who?”

  “Des, Jakob, Ray…”

  “They can go and marry themselves. But right now, we’re going to get married.” Laughing, I took his hands and pulled him over in front of the officiant.

  “Now and forever, Cupcake.”

  “Now and forever, Daddy!”

  Coming Soon

  Chapter 1

  Desmond

  “Uncle Des.”

  I turned around, and before I could even blink, I had my arms full of Sam. Behind him stood his Daddy, Jakob, who chuckled and shook his head. They’d been away for two weeks. Had he really expected Sam to greet me politely? Sam giggled when I spun him around in a circle. Then I sat him back down and looked him over. “Excuse me, but do we know each other? Not that I mind a cute Little throwing himself at me.”

  “It’s meee. Sam. You’re favorite Little.”

  “Hey. I’m his favorite Little,” Josh exclaimed. He shoved Sam to the side and gave me a big hug. “We’re back.”

  “And you are?”

  They both huffed, and I could barely contain my laughter. They were so adorable in their excitement to be back. They’d spent the last two weeks with their Daddies in Florida with Henry and his Daddy. They’d visited Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, and who knew where else. After everything that had happened recently, Jakob, Darrell, and Caden decided that it would be an excellent idea to take a trip. That meant a fun trip to Florida to enjoy all the theme parks and beaches.

  “We were only gone for two weeks. You couldn’t have forgotten us.” Sam pouted at me.

  “You really can’t. We’re the most adorable Littles ever,” Josh agreed, copying Sam's pout. “And we sent you postcards.”

  “Oh yes, I did get some postcards. But those were from the trouble threesome. There are only two of you here.”

  I’d gotten postcards every day, each one cuter than the last. Then they sent me tons of messages and pictures. Every day I got at least a hundred photos from the three of them as they visited Disney World, Sea World, Universal Studios, and even from an alligator farm.

  “That’s because Henry was too tired to come tonight,” Sam said with a sigh, followed by a yawn. It seemed Henry wasn’t the only one who was tired after their flight back.

  “Oh, ok. Good. So Henry wasn’t eaten by an alligator.”

  “No, but we nearly lost him at Universal Studios.” Josh giggled, and Sam sighed. I looked over to Jakob and Darrell, both rolling their eyes. Yeah, losing a Little in an amusement park would not be fun at all.

  “How so?”

  “We were visiting Harry Potter World, and suddenly he was gone.” Sam's eyes got huge when he told me what had happened. “Caden nearly lost his mind, and I was so scared.”

  “But we found him again, Baby.”

  Jakob stepped behind Sam and hugged his back to his chest. Of course, Sam, the little worrywart, would have been scared if his friend had been missing.

  “Henry just saw a neat store that sold custom wands. He signed where he was going without making sure that someone saw it. Then he ran off.”

  “He could barely sit during breakfast the next morning.” Of course, Josh would find that funny. But Darrell caught his smirk even if he couldn’t see it.

  “If you think that’s funny, I can spank your ass and see how you’ll sit through breakfast. Then we’ll see how funny you think it is.”

  Jakob and I were the only ones who laughed at Darrell's statement. Josh just squirmed, while Sam blushed. Sweet, innocent Sam. But they were right. I’d missed them.

  Clapping my hands together, I interrupted the little banter. “How about we all sit down now. I have dinosaur nuggets and fries for everyone.”

  “Yaaayyy. Dinosaur nuggets,” Josh exclaimed while Sam cuddled into his Daddy’s arms.

  “Can’t we have ice cream?” Sam turned in Jakob's arms to look at him. “You said we would have ice cream with sprinkles.”

  “I did, Baby, and I’m sure Uncle Des will let you have chocolate ice cream after you eat all your nuggets and fries.”

  Jakob kissed Sam, and then Jakob looked at me. I almost laughed out loud at the desperate look in Jakob’s eyes. The Daddies would kill me if I didn’t have ice cream and sprinkles for the Boys. Not that I would ever run out of ice cream. Or sprinkles for that matter. The Littles would run amok if I ever ran out of them, and I could not handle a Little rebellion. Reaching out, I ruffled Sam’s hair.

  “How about this. You help me with our lunch, and you can have extra sprinkles on your dessert.”

  That earned me the brightest smile from Sam. “I’ll be the bestest helper.”

  “Hey, what about me? I can help, too.”

  “You can set the table.” Darrell stepped in before I could say something about Josh helping as well. “And while you’re doing that, you can think about making fun of other Littles.”

  “I wasn’t making fun of Henry.”

  Jakob and I exchanged a look. Not every Daddy could deal with a brat like Josh. But for Darrell, he was perfect. For Jakob and me? Not so much. We both preferred our Boys sweet and obedient—lots of cuddles and snuggling and fewer fights and fewer punishments. Don’t get me wrong, I liked Josh, but he could be a handful. While I watched him with his Daddy, Sam came over to me and took my hand.

  “Can we go to the kitchen now? I don’t want to see Josh getting spanked. Again.”

  “Again, huh?” Laughing, I looked at Sam, who rolled his eyes.

  “Yeeeees. We didn’t even make it through the airport, and Josh got into trouble.”

  “That’s not true,” Josh exclaimed.

  Darrell sighed. “Joshua.”

  “Uh, oh.” Sam tugged at my hand. “Come on, Uncle Des. Josh is in real trouble if Darrell calls him Joshua.”

  Laughing, I let him lead me into the kitchen, where I had already started prep on our lunch.

  Ten minutes later, Sam chatted happily about their trip, while he arranged individual salad into bowls. It was a Daddy rule to have the vegetables or salad for the Littles. With Sam’s aversion to most veggies because of how they looked, I decided that a side salad would be the best choice.

  “Hey, Sam.” I interrupted his chattering. “Can you please hand me over one of the big bowls from over there?”

  “Yes, Uncle Des.�
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  “Thank you, sweet Boy.”

  “What do you need it for?”

  “For our food. I thought it would be cool to serve our food family style. We put the food into big bowls. Like they do in Italy.”

  “Oh, wow. I’ve never been to Italy. I bet they have the best spaghetti there.”

  “What? Better than mine?” Laughing, I put salt on the fries and set them aside until I had a bowl.

  “Umm, Uncle Des?”

  “It’s okay, sweet Boy. I won’t be mad if you think that other spaghetti is better than mine.”

  “Deeeeessss?”

  Okay, Sam was not worried about my reaction and curious I turned to look at him. He stood at the shelve where the bowls were, but his eyes focused out the window. It was one of the few windows in the building, and it faced the back alley.

  “What’s wrong, buddy?”

  “Why is there someone sleeping in the alley?”

  “What?”

  Frowning, I wiped my hands on a dishtowel and walked over to where Sam stood. It wasn’t unusual for homeless guys to hang out in the back alley. They knew that they could always get a free meal or a hot drink in the winter, but no one ever slept there.

  “I…I think he’s hurt.”

  As I stepped up behind Sam and looked over his shoulder, I could see he was right. On the other side of the alley was a guy on the ground, his head tilted back against the brick wall. And he seemed to be hurt. Dark, dried blood stuck to his dirty blond hair, and from where I was standing, I could see dark bags under his eyes. He wore dirty gray sweatpants and a stained t-shirt, and as far as I could see, he was barefoot. What the hell?

  “Hey, buddy, can you please get your Daddy and Darrell?”

  “He’s not dead, is he?” Sam’s voice quivered; his eyes were as big as saucers.

  “No, but it looks like he needs our help. So please get your Daddy and Darrell, and you stay with Josh in the pub, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Thanks, sweet Boy.”

  Sam spun on his heels and rushed out of the kitchen while I opened the backdoor and prayed that the guy wasn’t dead. Jakob would kill me if Sam found a dead body under my watch and in my back alley. Hazel eyes looked at me as I crossed the alley. Okay, good. Not dead.