by Riley Knight
In some ways, his parents would be able to understand ‘gay,’ too. They knew what it meant. They might not approve, but there would be no mystery about what he meant.
“Oh my God,” Scott’s mother whispered, her cheeks very pale.
“Son … are you sure?” his father asked, and to Scott’s surprise, he seemed pretty composed. Like he just wanted to make sure this wasn’t some sort of joke. After all, Scott was known for writing some pretty risqué stuff for his show.
“I’m sure. Mark … is my husband,” Scott admitted. Better to have it all out in the open. Just get it all there. “We got married because we both wanted to adopt, and we’re in the process of doing that.”
Scott stopped talking, and his mother actually staggered, resting her hand against the wall to stabilize herself. Scott winced. He was hurting her, but in a way, it was pretty terrible that that could hurt her so much.
“I’m not that surprised,” Scott’s father said, looking at him intently. “I think I always sort of knew, on some level. It’ll just take me – us, I hope – some time to adjust to it.”
Wow.
That was a far better response than Scott would have imagined. His father had been the one to make most of the gay bashing comments which he’d heard in his life, and now, he was the one to accept him, while his mother just stood there, looking like he’d stabbed her in the stomach.
“My son …” She froze, and then her face hardened. Without another word, she turned and left the room.
Chapter Eighteen
Mark
It could have gone better, but God knew it could have gone a hell of a lot worse.
It had been hard for Mark to sit there, waiting for Scott’s parents to pass judgment on them. He tended to not care too much about what people thought about his choices, so to open himself up to caring because he loved Scott so much, it was terrifying.
Once Scott’s mother just walked out, there hadn’t seemed to be any point in staying. So they’d left and headed back home to pick Mary Anne up, both of them very quiet and thoughtful.
Scott, in particular, wasn’t speaking at all, and Mark wasn’t the sort of person who could easily fill the silence. Luckily, once they had Mary Anne, she chattered away enough for both of them.
Only when they were back home, and Mary Anne was off doing her own thing, did Scott turn to Mark and finally speak.
“I didn’t think it would be my dad,” he whispered. “If either of them had accepted this about me, I would have thought it would be my mother.”
Mark’s heart broke for his husband. The pieces of it ached, and if he’d been facing Scott’s mother at that moment, he would have said some things which made it probably a pretty good thing that she was safely in another state.
Damn it, no one should get to make Scott feel like this.
“I’m sorry, baby,” Mark whispered, and he stroked lightly over Scott’s back, trying to soothe him. What else could he say, or do? He felt utterly helpless. More than anything, he wanted to give Scott acceptance and love, but he couldn’t control what other people thought.
Nor would Scott’s mother be the only person who didn’t approve of Scott being gay. It wasn’t right, and it wasn’t fair, but some people would judge him, and some people would be dicks.
As they held each other, Scott’s phone rang.
With an apologetic smile, Scott pulled away and tugged his phone from his pocket. He didn’t explain, but then, he didn’t really need to. Mark understood. Scott was obviously hoping it was his mother, calling to apologize for her reaction.
Mark hoped for that, too, but he remembered the look on her face and didn’t think it was all that likely. If she ever did ‘forgive’ her son for being gay, it would take time, and Mark wasn’t convinced he wanted anything to do with her after her reaction.
“It’s the social worker,” Scott whispered, his face suddenly very pale, except for two red patches high up on his cheeks. He looked frantically excited and terrified, and Mark felt his own body go as cold as if someone had dumped buckets of ice water over his head.
At that moment, he knew terror.
It had been such a harsh day for Scott already. What news was this social worker going to bring them?
“Answer it!” Mark was tempted to just let the call go to voice mail, but then he knew he would obsess about it. Better to get it over with, and he met Scott’s eyes and saw the exact same emotions, all of them, in his husband’s face. They were linked in hope, and in fear.
Scott pushed the button to accept the call, and then another one to put it on speaker so Mark could hear it as well.
“Hello?” Scott’s voice was incredibly cautious, very reserved, and Mark put an arm around his husband and led him to the couch. He had a feeling about this call, whatever news was about to reach them through this social worker, it was something big.
Scott seemed to have the same feeling because he collapsed onto the couch like his legs couldn’t hold him for even one more second. He sent a grateful look at Mark, who sat down beside him.
“Scott, I have news.”
In the split second in which Wendy spoke, Mark aged a lifetime. He sat there, actually sweating, his stomach churning, trying to analyze her voice. Did she sound different? Was the news good, or bad?
All he had to do was wait and find out, and yet, somehow, that was the most difficult thing in the world.
Scott gripped onto him, and Mark gripped right back. They clung together, and whatever happened, Mark swore to himself right then and there that he would be there for his husband. If the worst happened …
“I have some good news,” Wendy said, and Mark’s heart actually outright stopped, for a second, as he held his breath to try to hear every word she said. “Your application to foster was approved.”
Which was, Mark knew, the first step toward adopting. The state of California tended to do it that way, from what they’d been told, a foster to adopt situation so that the transition was hopefully smoother for the child, and everyone knew it was a good fit.
She had basically handed them what they wanted, and Mark saw Scott look at him, saw the hope dawn in his eyes. There had been a strange darkness behind them, one which Mark hadn’t even consciously realized was there, but it had lifted, and a cautious sort of hope had taken its place.
“Seriously?” Scott asked, and Mark bit his lips to try to keep himself from smirking. He could understand the sentiment, but it was still sort of funny to hear Scott sounding like that. His husband had a bit of the ‘too cool for school’ vibe about him, the rich playboy, but he sounded almost like a child himself, with all of that wonder in his voice.
“Seriously,” Wendy said, and Mark could hear the smile in her voice, even if he couldn’t see her. “Now, I have a quick question for you. How attached are you to getting a baby?”
Mark sought out Scott’s eyes, looking at him, searching his eyes. How did Scott feel about that? Mark knew the waiting list of older children was much short than for babies, but Scott had never had a baby before. Even Mark hadn’t really, though he’d come a lot closer because Mary Anne had been so young when Mark had been with her mother.
“I think that depends,” Scott said, his voice quiet, his face composed. He didn’t seem to be upset, but whatever he was feeling, he was hiding it pretty well. Or maybe, like Mark, he was just sort of shocked that this was happening at all. That actually made a lot of sense. “How old are we talking?”
“Well, actually, that brings me to another question,” Wendy commented, and her voice was just a little bit too professional. That set some alarms off for Mark. She clearly thought there was a good chance they wouldn’t like what she was about to say.
“What is it?” Mark finally couldn’t keep himself quiet, and he knew she would be able to hear him because of the phone being on speaker.
“Oh, is Mark there, too?” Wendy asked, and then she apparently decided to just go for it. “Well, here’s a question for the two of you. How at
tached are you to the idea of one kid?”
Mark looked at Scott, who seemed to be suddenly very pale. He watched as his husband opened his mouth, but seemed unwilling to actually speak. Or maybe it was just that he wasn’t able to.
Meanwhile, Wendy was waiting, probably barely breathing, for them to respond. It didn’t seem smart to keep the social worker waiting, so Mark spoke up, taking over the call.
“Why don’t you tell us what you’ve got?” he asked. All of this beating around the bush was more than a little frustrating, and it was obviously stressing Scott out, too.
“There’s a sibling group. The boy is ten months old, but older sister is turning ten in a few months.” Wendy sounded resigned, as though she figured she was pretty much asking for the impossible, and from what Mark understood, it probably was pretty close.
A ten-year-old, or almost. Probably most people would take the baby boy, but his sister?
“Okay. Thank you.” Mark took a deep breath, then looked at Scott, who was still just sitting there with his mouth slightly open with surprise. It was, after all, pretty shocking to find out you might end up being a father of three, including Mary Anne, instead of two.
“Can we talk about it?” Mark asked. “Just, you know, it wasn’t what we were planning, and I want to make sure …”
He definitely wasn’t going to commit Scott to something like that, not with no idea how the poor man felt about it. At the same time, he really wasn’t comfortable turning it down, and for much the same reason.
Scott needed to be given the time to think about what he wanted to do, and not be committed to anything before he had.
“Wait!”
Scott’s voice was almost panicked when he spoke, like he was worried Mark would just end the call at any second. Or that Wendy would, more likely, since Scott still held the phone.
“What’s up, babe?” Mark asked, and Scott gave him a sudden, brilliant, smile, his eyes soft and bright at the same time.
“I want to do it,” Scott said, his voice very clear. Mark had been wondering if Scott would back out, but there was no hint of hesitation in his voice. Not even the slightest little bit. “I want to meet them, at least, to see if it could work.”
Mark became aware that his mouth was going dry, and he realized that he needed to shut it. It was gaping open because he’d been so sure that Scott was going to decide he couldn’t even consider taking on a child so much older than what they’d talked about.
“What? Babe, you know it’s perfect. Mary Anne is almost the same age as this little girl,” Scott pointed out.
“That did occur to me,” Mark admitted, while Wendy chimed in, using a much more hopeful voice.
“Me too,” she confessed, and all of a sudden, there was this huge smile on his face.
“I’ll be in touch to arrange the meeting,” Wendy said, and when she hung up, Mark flung himself into his husband’s arms, clinging to him like there was no tomorrow.
“We’re doing this,” Scott whispered, and Mark nodded, his tongue feeling too thick to form words. His chest felt too tight, too, full of the most intense emotion.
He had started off doing this mostly for Scott because he thought everyone who wanted to should have the chance to have a child. Somewhere along the line, he had become incredibly invested in the whole thing, and to have it suddenly just handed to him …
It was a lot.
So he just clung to his husband, and he knew that Scott understood. That was one of the best things about Scott.
Scott clung back, and then their lips met in a deep, meaningful kiss. There was a lot to do still, of course. They were going to have to tell Mary Anne the good news, and they would have to meet the children, and the fostering process would start then.
Somehow, though, in Scott’s arms, kissing him, he knew it would all work out in the best, most amazing way possible.
The End
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Riley Knight is an avid reader and has always had a soft spot for gay romances. What could be better than a sweet story between two beautiful men who need each other? It only seemed logical for Riley to write these steamy, emotional romances, focusing on an emotional and happy ending.
When not reading or writing, Riley can be found wandering the landscape and loves to go for long walks and observe all sorts of people and situations.
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