by David Horne
“Hello, this is Eric Simons Thorens speaking,” he said, his voice steady but his leg was bouncing nervously.
“Eric, congratulations! Oh, my baby is all grown up and married, when are you two adopting?”
“Mom, it’s nice to hear that from you,” Eric said, smiling at Damien.
“Your father may still be wary of the idea but I told him I wanted to see my son and his children so he has to be quiet about it,” she said in her motherly way.
“Thanks, Mom, that really means a lot to me. I know I haven’t been able to visit because of the past but you can come out to eat with us some time so we can talk,” Eric squeezed Damien’s hand, trying not to cry. On every holiday he still called his parents and the both of them sent gifts or cards, only a few times did they get something sent to them as well. Calls sometimes got picked up by his father but his mom was always ready to talk and text him.
“Sweetie, I want to send you something, it should arrive by next week if I send it today. But when you get it, call me so I can be on the phone while you two open it,” she said with a firm voice. In the background, the sound of scratching cardboard made it clear she was putting it together now.
“All right, we can do that. Tell Dad we said hi,” Eric talked with her for a few more minutes. Petunia suggested a few adoption centers for whenever they were ready, their plans for the future already being implemented.
"Surprised you didn't say she could come to visit the house," Damien teased and held both of Eric's hands. "This is great though, now she's fully accepting of our relationship. Kids and future pets can be paid for with your online work and cleaning service plus my job and the little store. It's simply amazing how it's all slowly coming together."
"The only thing I can wish for right now is my father being able to at least recognize our relationship as final," Eric lamented but cheered up quickly. "Excited to get started on the adoption process next month? I know I am!"
"I couldn't be more overwhelmed, nervous, and completely overjoyed for anything else in my life besides having married you," Damien kissed his hands. With love in their eyes, the two looked at each other like they were the only people to exist at that moment. "You've got the most gorgeous pair of gray eyes," he whispered and played with his fingers. Curling and uncurling his husband's small but long fingers over and over again.
"And you've got the most charming pair of blue eyes I've ever seen." Eric leaned across the table, standing up to kiss Damien on the lips, just a small peck before sitting back down.
"I'm glad we live in a relatively crime-free area, it'll be safer to raise kids and for us to be ourselves. I picked it planning to one day find someone, who knew I would find the one so soon," he grinned at him and stood up to go pay their bill for drinks they hadn't touched yet.
Hand in hand, they walked around enjoying the rings on their hands they got at a small ceremony with their closest friends. "Does the park sound like a good choice for a place to wander around? I think it would be a pretty good idea."
"Parks are calm most of the time in daylight so that's also a nice factor into this," Damien started to swing their arms a tiny bit. "My mood is up to the stars at this point. Nothing is going to bring me down anytime soon."
"Good, that means I can kiss and love on you as much as I want plus make your lunch meals for work! I'm good at that now after your expert kitchen teachings. I've got a nice present in the bedroom to spice things up a little too." Across the street, down a few blocks, and they arrived at the park.
"You were an easy student to teach with how fast you picked up the skills. For someone who didn't know how to properly cut a tomato and said they have clumsy hands, you sure did make an amazing salsa," Damien kissed his cheek, glad they changed after the small ceremony. Tuxedos for both of them, plus leather shoes made those the most expensive outfits either of them owned.
"You also picked up fast on cleaning, you used to not be able to hold a broom correctly or dust a shelf without leaving trails. Now you've become almost an expert but that's still my territory." Eric winked and kissed him on the cheek, though he still had to get on his toes in order to land it on his stubbled cheek.
"Stubble is so hot on you, it's rough to the touch but extremely satisfying. Makes you look even more manly," he slid his thumb across the little facial hair. "Where do you want to go for a celebration dinner? We haven't eaten out in quite a while so we could book a place if you wanted to or go to a family diner," Eric suggested, swinging their arms slowly.
"Family diner; I haven't been in one for a long time. Probably last time was when I was a young kid," Damien reminisced, daydreaming as they walked through the park. "Did you ever go to a place where the waiter would give you a special toy? There was a diner in my hometown where an older lady would give toys to children that came in. I found out when I was older that she just did it to pass the time, loved seeing kids happy since she didn't have any of her own."
"People can be so darn sweet!" Eric shook his head with a smile, "If that diner is still around, we should go someday. I think it would be a great experience."
"First let's adopt a kid so we can take him there, I'm not sure if she's still there. Being able to go would give me some nice new memories to keep the place alive," Damien kissed his cheek. Sitting together on a cool park bench, they watched the leaves of autumn falling around them and people enjoying the mild weather.
"Remind me to come here every year on our double anniversary. This park is the perfect serene place to let everything go in peace while you're in it." Eric closed his eyes to enjoy the soft noises and rustling of the leaves in the breeze.
"We could have a picnic here next year if you want to," Damian whispered, putting his arm around Eric. He held his hand and let his head lay on top of his spouse's frizzy light brown hair. "We look like we're representing the season with our hair colors," he joked and kissed the top of his head. In return, he received a kiss on the neck with the position their heads were in.
Both of them felt it when their hearts beat as one, connected by an invisible force that would bind their love together as soul mates. "It was kind of like fate that we got together in autumn then, we match well," he giggled covering his mouth at the noise.
"Cute, you don't have to cover that up," Damien cooed and took his hand away to kiss his lips. "My baby has the best laughs," he winked at him and hugged him into his side. Eyes met again and they smiled at each other, "See you're just the cutest when you're not worked up about anything. Let's get ice cream from that stand over there then start walking back to my car. I feel like going out to eat soon."
Chapter Seventeen
Damien stared at the papers in front of him, his vision blurring in and out of focus as they had been rejected again for adoption. Both of them had taken the classes, done all the proper paperwork, background checks, and proper arrangements for any aged child from baby to around 10 years old. They were even ready to adopt a pre-teen or teenager if they got rejected more than five times.
"Hey, it's okay babe, just a few more tries. It's time to go have dinner with my parents. We can talk it over afterward. I promise, we're going to get through this!" Eric hugged him from behind the couch. He bent over as he did it, kissing him on the cheek and nuzzling into his shoulder to give them both some comfort.
"Two more tries," Damien sighed and hugged him back and turned his head to whisper in his ear. "We'll get it for whatever age of the child. Your dad seemed pretty excited about today. I wonder what was up with that?"
Half a year had passed since they got everything together and went through classes plus approval. Over that time Eric's father Hendricks started calling and texting both of them. Petunia got Damien's number and handed it to her husband so they could both be in contact with them both. "He's got the habit of using random emojis in his texts. I didn't know he even recognized them as emojis," he snorted and laughed quietly as Damien showed him the texts he had gotten.
“It’s kind of endearing how much he�
��s started talking to us over text at least. Though he hasn’t said he approves of our relationship, at least he’s making the effort to know us both better.” Damien put his phone away then stood up, getting Eric clinging to his back.
"I want to stay close to you for a little longer," he mumbled into his shoulder. Legs and arms latched onto his torso so Damien knew he couldn't shake off his clingy spouse. He didn't mind it though, it just meant he could carry him around then tease him later about acting like a baby koala.
"Let's get the presents for your parents, your dad seemed really happy for some reason but it's rude to greet them after three years without a present to make up the time we've missed. Your mom has come but he was never here, usually said he would rather not," Damien grabbed the presents from the table and got his shoes on. "Will you be needing me to put your shoes on for you koala baby?"
"No! I'm perfectly capable of putting on my own shoes!" He was ruffled by the teasing and got down to put on the shoes. "Hurry up, you're so slow Damien," he teased back with the childish action of sticking his tongue out.
"Oh yes, I'm deeply insulted being called slow when I outrun you most of the time," Damien rolled his eyes. Unlocking the car, he turned and locked up the house by putting in home security and putting a special key into the lock.
"Hey, my parents said they were on their way so we gotta rush there," Eric was looking at texts from his parents and took the presents to hold in his lap. "Those two always liked to be earlier than everyone no matter who it was. They arrived with me two hours early for graduation."
"Punctual to the extreme," Damien laughed softly and started the drive to the meetup at the restaurant.
“Eric, you look taller! Have you grown?” His mother asked as soon as she spotted them.
“No, I haven’t grown but I have gained muscle,” Eric smiled as he hugged her, giving a small squeeze.
“Nice to see you again, son,” Hendricks said as he gave Eric a hug after Petunia let go. The hug was short but meaningful, both of them held on tight.
"Mister Thorens, it's nice to see you again after so long," Damien shook hands with him and got a hug from Petunia. "Shall we sit down?" He suggested and they maneuvered to the table they had reserved.
"Today I want to make amends with both of you," Hendricks explained after they had ordered food and drinks. "Damien, you're a fine man and though I may not understand why you two chose one another, I hope you continue being happy. Eric, you're my only child, I have my faults I suppose but I have never once stopped loving you as my child." The words came out with a struggle, he clearly had trouble admitting he regretted a decision so neither of them was going to push him further.
"I love you too, Dad," Eric smiled and patted one of his clenched hands. "We're still trying to adopt. We’ve been rejected by a few places but we have other options. The tedious process is a little nerve-wracking."
"Well, that's another thing we wanted to talk to you about. There's a foster home near us and they've had kids in there who never experienced a permanent home. I wanted to give you the name so you could visit them and maybe spend a few days with us?" Hendricks took a piece of paper out of his pocket with all of the information on it.
"We both agreed that we wouldn't try to influence what child you want to adopt," Petunia said and put her purse on the table, shuffled some papers around. She dug through until she found what she wanted and handed him a picture of all of the children there.
"Thank you so much, you guys are the best," Eric hugged both of the papers to his chest in relief. "Do you know the people running the foster home?"
"Not personally, but we do know that there are children wanting to be adopted into a family. They're really pushing for it," Petunia put her purse back between the seats.
"Any child is fine, boy or girl," Damien said, lifting up the present bag he had set down and handing it across the table to them. "We've missed quite a lot so we got you a present."
Hendricks let Petunia open it, pulling out a picture album and grandparent frames for when they got a picture with the adopted kid. "Oh, sweetie! This is just perfect, look at this dear. Sections for birthdays and they even put a few of themselves in here for us."
"I see you had a birthday at that new restaurant, ah, Christmas time. You both look very happy here too," his father said with a delighted smile on his face. They both had aged quite a lot, his father most of all with all of his hair going gray.
"We have more pictures if you want them but we figured we should save the slots for years to come that we spend with you. Time goes by pretty fast when you're working daily and figuring out the whole adoption system," Eric laughed quietly and smiled across at his parents.
"Would you two like to join us when we go to the zoo today?” Hendricks asked as their food arrived. The waiter put down the dishes and drinks in front of them before leaving them to eat, the place was pretty popular and seemed to have a small staff.
“We would love to join you. Actually, our first date was at the zoo but we haven’t been back since. Maybe they have some new animals,” Eric pondered as he put a napkin on his lap. Damien shared a few bites of his food with Eric when he was curious about what the salmon and lemon sauce tasted like. To be fair he also gave him a few bites of his pasta with fried chicken pieces, giggling when he got it on his chin.
“What’s funny?” Damien asked, getting his face wiped off by Petunia before Eric could even react. Next Hendricks was chuckling to himself while Damien looked flustered at the sudden attention put on him. “Thank you,” he mumbled looking down at his plate.
“You’re welcome, Hun don’t laugh at the boy. I was wiping food off your face just last week,” she lectured and he quickly went quiet so she didn’t reveal anything else embarrassing.
“Zoo then would you guys like to come over? You’ve never come for a visit to the house yet so maybe you would like to have a small tour. Damien could also show off some of his crafting skills for you Dad, he knows his way around with woodwork,” Eric said not realizing it could be interpreted wrong until his husband snorted.
“Perfect, let’s get going when we finish our meal so we don’t miss the zoo,” Hendricks said, moving on from the small blunder.
Chapter Eighteen
Cleaning a client’s house, Eric was listening to music when he got a call from Damien on the phone. Only the month before they had applied to adopt one of the children, Damien stayed home for their house check and gave them all of their financial information. “Please be good news,” he whispered, answering the call he heard talking in the background.
“They’re saying we can come over today to go pick him up!” Damien exclaimed, clearly excited but keeping his voice down. “Finish the work you have then I’ll come to pick you up!”
“I’ll get it done faster, give me fifteen minutes and you can pick me up from the parking garage by my workplace,” Eric said and started to clean again. He was glad for the simple cleaning jobs he was assigned with the customer. It made the job go a lot faster when he needed to go somewhere. By the time he was finished, he had worked up a small sweat but he was able to quickly clean up in his car while waiting for Damien.
“Baby,” Damien called to him and ran at him, picking him up. “It’s really happening!” He kissed him passionately and lovingly, spinning them around in a circle.
“I know babe! I’m so happy,” he said with a small pant when they broke from the kiss. “Before we get anxious about anything, let’s go pick him up.”
“Lyle is his name, he’s eight years old and he’s been living in the foster system most of his life,” Damien led him back to the car and kissed him on the lips once more. “He’s already getting packed as we speak and after a month it will be official, they said.”
“One month will go by so quickly, one of us will have to be home with him so I’ll take some time off of my cleaning job to be with him and you can take whatever days you can off to be with him.” Upon arrival, they had already planned the next
few months of who would be home or when they would both be home with him. Both of them were indeed excited as they stood at the door of the foster home, ringing the doorbell.
“Hello, you must be the adoptive parents. Lyle, it’s time to tell everyone goodbye, for now, your new guardians are here,” the man called and a pair of small feet came bounding down the steps. On a previous visit, they had gotten one on one time with all of the children so all of them knew who they were.
“Hey Lyle, it’s nice to see you again,” Eric said, smiling in a friendly way as Lyle walked slowly toward them. He had said his goodbyes already to everyone but gave one final hug to his foster parents.
“Hello,” he had a quiet voice, slowly walking over as Eric offered to hold his hand. Very slow about the movement, he put his small warm hand into Eric’s as they walked to Damien’s car where they had put one of those soft clip-on toys on the seat belt.
“If you need anything you can tell us,” Eric said while Damien was handed a few things by the foster father. “Can you tell me your favorite meal?”
“I like noodles,” he mumbled as Eric let him buckle himself into the safety seat they had also gotten.
“Do you like anything on the noodles? Cheese, tomato sauce, butter, bacon, anything you want,” he said with a smile, wanting to make his first meal special.
“Cheese and white sauce,” Lyle was still quiet but he smiled a little at the monkey on the seat belt.
“You know, we’re really happy to have met you. What’s your favorite dessert? I really like ice cream and brownies,” he answered the question himself to try and make it easier for Lyle to open up to them.
“Cookies,” he looked down at the seat belt, not really raising his gaze. After a short conversation about Lyle Damien got into the car with a grin.
“Lyle, I heard you like wolves and dogs,” he turned to glance at him, seeing a small nod of confirmation. “I was wondering if you would want to decorate your room with wolves and dogs.”