He nodded, beginning to sweat from nervous tension. “Yup. Which is why I brought my new family members to dinner with me.”
“New family…?”
“Before we go in…I want you to know first. We, the three of us, are in a relationship, Mags. I love them and they love me.” Well, that was way easier than he thought it would be.
Watching a myriad of emotions race across Maggie’s face, Colton experienced a sudden odd and profound moment with his sister. For a second he thought he had been mistaken in expecting acceptance from her upon seeing her eyes mist with tears, but then she smiled. And, holy shit, he was damn sure she had never smiled at him like that before. He dropped his tactile connections with Bleu and Alexis and pulled Maggie into a tight hug.
“I don’t give a shit who you fall in love with,” she whispered, hugging him hard. “I just don’t want to see you so alone anymore.”
“Hey, kid. I wasn’t alone. I was just…antisocial.”
“And we’ll kick his ass if he gets like that again,” Alexis said. Colton found himself embarrassingly choked up and without speech, just as he had been after the first night Alexis had taken him. To discover and accept this deep and worried love his sister harbored for him, right before everything was most likely about to go to hell, was almost too much for him to handle. To be loved and feel that love was a miracle.
She pulled back, nodding and laughing and trying to inconspicuously wipe her tears all at the same time. She looked from Bleu to Alexis with warm, welcoming eyes. “Good,” she said, stroking Colton’s cheek once. “I’m happy for you. Even though this is still so weird and you’ll have to explain it to me in better detail later.”
“Thanks, Mags. But my relationship with Alex and Bleu isn’t the only reason for drama we’re going to have today. Let’s do this.”
“How could there be something more than you being bisexual and in a trouple?”
Bleu groaned. “It’s triad or ménage, please.”
“Let’s just say there is more to the night dad was shot than he or mom told us.”
“Awesome. I hope you like penne a la vodka.” Maggie wiped the remnants of her tear tracks and turned on that bright and sunny smile once more. She took their coats as she closed the door behind them in the entryway.
“Colt?” his mom called out from the kitchen. “Did you bring these all-important friends of yours that we just had to meet, which forced me to make something actually edible for dinner?”
His mother strolled in from the kitchen still wearing her apron that had some sort of orange sauce coating the front. Her smile froze when first her attention was directed to Bleu’s blue hair and then to Bleu herself. She smiled oddly at her and then Alexis.
“Colt?”
“Mom, this is Bleu and Alexis.”
His mother’s hand froze as it reached out to Bleu, her wary eyes flickering back to Colton.
“Bleu and Alexis?” She shook her head and ran her fingers through her close-cropped hair. “Sorry, those names sounded familiar.” She extended her hand to each in turn. “Nice to meet you, come in. I’ve made pasta.” She gestured toward her messy apron. “And have successfully managed to get it everywhere.”
“It smells delicious, Mrs. Evans,” Alexis said, winking at Colton as he followed his mom into the kitchen.
“Alex owns a diner, Ma.” Colton was too nervous to sit. He walked over to the bubbling pot of pasta sauce on the stove, inhaling the deep fragrance of the vodka sauce, and bent down to peer into the oven. There was fresh garlic bread warming to a golden crisp. It all looked delicious and he didn’t think he would be able to take one bite from nerves wracking his stomach.
“Oh, really?” Mrs. Evans asked, hip bumping Colton out of the way so she could stir the pasta sauce.
“Annabelle’s. It’s on—”
“Oh, right near the ferry!” She turned to Alexis. “I’ve been there, right when it opened. Really lovely place.”
He smiled sheepishly.”Thanks. It’s my baby.”
Bleu gave Alex a quiet kiss on his cheek and walked over to Mrs. Evans. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Sure, hon. Get those plates and we’ll start dishing.”
“What about Dad?”
“Oh, he called when Mags was answering the door. Ron is having car trouble so he said to start without him.” She began to ladle the pasta out onto plates, handing the finished plates to Bleu to place on the table.
“Should I go and pick him up?”
“No, no. They can take care of it. He’s been acting weird all morning, if you ask me. I think your father is up to something, as usual. Will probably give me a heart attack before he’s through. Maggie!” she called. Maggie ran in from the living room. “Stop playing Candy Crush and help us put the food on the table. Get the serving plate for the garlic bread.”
“There are two very strong and capable men standing right next to you. Get out of the fifties and tell one of them to do something.” Maggie complained while putting oven mitts on and pulling the garlic bread out of the oven. The smell was heavenly.
“Really, Mrs. Evans, I can help. I cook for people all day at my diner,” Alex volunteered, taking the heavy serving plate from Maggie and putting it on the dining table.
“Which is why you shouldn’t have to do it now. Colt, get the wine and glasses and we’ll be all set.”
“Can I just have some water, Mrs. Evans?” Bleu asked, settling down at the table. Colton gave her a discreet kiss on the cheek while his mother’s back was turned. Alex gave him one in turn. Maggie grinned and rolled her eyes at their secretive antics.
“You don’t like wine, Bleu? I’m sure we have some beer or maybe you’d like a little whiskey?”
“Just water is fine.”
Colton breathed a sigh of relief that she kept her reason for not having alcohol to herself. He was only prepared to tackle one challenge at a time.
Once they were all settled, Mrs. Evans gestured for them to dig in. The conversation blessedly turned to some safely mundane topics. Alex complemented Colt’s mom on the meal, especially her garlic bread. Colt loved his mom’s garlic bread. She had a secret ingredient that usually made him drool for it like a starving man. As the meal progressed, however, the bread turned to sawdust in his mouth. At one point Bleu leaned over and gave his thigh a discreet squeeze for comfort…or was she nudging him along, encouraging him to get it over with? He was panicking, worrying about his mother’s reaction.
He was going to wait until they had all had a satisfying meal and settled in the living room to chat, and for his father to get home, but he couldn’t wait. It would be all right. He just had to keep chanting that to himself in his head. His folks loved him. Nothing would change. It may not work out for him in the long run to have to tell both parents separately since his dad hadn’t come home yet, but his skin was crawling with anticipation. If he waited any longer every secret he had ever kept from his parents would just vomit up from his subconscious. He needed to control the flow.
“Mom, I have to tell you something,” he nearly yelled out, interrupting whatever stream of conversation had been progressing.
Alexis paused with a forkful of pasta halfway to his mouth, his eyebrows shooting into his hairline. Bleu reached over and squeezed his thigh again, except this time it was more a “calm down” squeeze than anything else.
“OK, Colt,” his mom said after placing her utensils on the table and folding her hands in her lap. “Go ahead.”
“Sorry for interrupting. I just…I couldn’t wait to tell you anymore. I’ve been waiting a long time to tell you this but for some reason have been too scared to.”
She looked understandably concerned. What must be going through her head at that moment? “Sweetheart, you can tell me anything. You know that.”
“You’re right. I know, I do know that.” He took a swig from his wine glass, earning an amused look from Alexis. “Mom, I am—and I’ve known this about myself for some time—I’m bisexua
l.”
“Oh,” she said before reaching for the wine.
“Oh?” Maggie said to her mom. “That’s all you have to say?”
“Colt, if you’re gay you can just say it. You don’t need to tell me you’re bi to make me feel better. You know none of that matters to me. Is this why you had your friends come over? For support?”
“No, Ma. I’m not gay. I like women…in fact I love women. I just…love men as well.”
She frowned. “Colt, I’m sorry, I just don’t believe that men can be bisexual. Men are either gay or straight…there is no in-between for them.”
“Mom, that is such a double standard,” Maggie barked, banging her hand on the table in true Maggie drama.
“I’m sorry you don’t believe that, Mom,” Colt said taking Bleu’s hand in his and placing it on the table. “But I can assure you I love men and women. In fact…the other thing I wanted to tell you will prove just that.” Colt took Alexis’s hand and mirrored his position with Bleu.
“I know for a fact that I love men and women because I am currently in love with a man and woman.”
There was a significant moment of silence before she said, “What?”
“I’m in a relationship, Ma…with Bleu and Alex.” His lovers squeezed his hands at the same time and the pitter-patter of his heart slowed to normal rates. They centered him, making this excruciating experience well worth it.
“How…how is that even possible? How does something like that work?”
“I love Alexis and I love Bleu. That’s how it works and that’s how it’s possible. You don’t need to make it more complicated than that. It’s a normal relationship but with three people instead of two.”
“That is the exact opposite of a normal relationship, Colton!”
“Mom, please, it’s not a big deal.”
“How is this not a big deal?” She looked over at Bleu and Alexis, regretting her outburst, before taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry. You’re right. Colt, you know I’ll love you no matter what you do or who you love…” She poured herself some more wine. “Or how many you love. You just…you have to see how you can’t exactly bring two people as your date to family reunions or weddings or—”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” He took Bleu’s and Alexis’s hands off the table, but kept them in his lap.
“When have we ever had a family reunion?” Mags asked, attempting to lighten the mood.
“What will your father think?” she muttered more to herself than anyone at the table.
“Ma—”
“Bleu. Why does that name sound so familiar? Did you say Alexis?” his mother asked sounding slightly alarmed. “Alexis, what?”
“Mirskii,” Alexis answered, a grave look on his face. She looked at Colton in denial, shaking her head. “No, no. Mirskii is the last name of the man who shot your father.” A confused smile made her lips tilt up in a mockery of her usual eccentric yet positive attitude. “This is a joke, right, Colt? Some sort of weird joke?”
“No, Ma. He was Alex’s father. Alex was—”
“The boy on the roof?” She turned back to Bleu, her small attempt at denial smothered by the fire in her eyes. “You were the girl in the bar, weren’t you?” She pointed at Bleu. “Is Leroux your last name?” Bleu nodded. His mother laughed, slapping her hands on the table with a loud smack and standing. “Oh you’ve really stepped in it now, Colt.” She grabbed her dishes and headed toward the kitchen.
“What bar?” Maggie asked, standing and beginning to follow. The poor girl had absolutely no clue what was going on. This had to stop. The secrets in his family had to end.
“Never mind—”
“What bar?” Maggie repeated, angrily. Their mom ignored her. Colt stood and grabbed Maggie’s elbow before she could storm off after their mom.
“There’s more to the night Dad got shot then we were told, Mags.” Their mom came back into the dining room, and began to clean up half-eaten dishes and glasses still sloshing with liquids. “Why didn’t you guys tell us about that first call?” he asked her. “About Bleu?”
“Your father asked me not to so…I didn’t.” She headed back into the kitchen. This time Colton followed her. He grabbed the plates from her hands and placed them on the counter, making her face him.
“Don’t you think we had the right to know what happened to our dad?”
“Your father was ill and in the hospital, coming to terms with his paralysis. Do you really think I was going to go against his one simple wish? A wish that wouldn’t really change anything in the end and ease his mind. Of course I would do it. I would have done anything your father asked of me then.” Her voice faltered and she looked away from Colton, staring at the sink now cluttered with half-empty dishes. Some crumbs had scattered around the counter when he’d taken the dishes from her and she focused on brushing them into the sink, ignoring her own son as he stood at her side, asking her to tell the truth. He couldn’t reconcile this woman with who he knew his mother to be. She looked up at him, her mouth open as if poised to speak, but she just shook her head again and brushed past him, her cheeks flushed from his attention. She was hiding something for his father, something that was tearing her up inside.
“But you didn’t even question it!” He followed again, stopping her in her tracks by stepping in front of her. “What is he hiding? The first time I met Bleu, Dad was with me. He would barely look at her, let alone speak to her. Why wouldn’t he talk to her?”
“I’ve been trying to thank him for a very long time, Mrs. Evans,” Bleu said quietly, drawing their attention to where she stood by the table with Maggie. “I just want to thank him for saving my life, that’s all.”
“I don’t know,” his mother said forcibly, unable to look Bleu in the eyes. “In the end it doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters,” Maggie yelled. Bleu placed a hand on her shoulder.
“No, it doesn’t.” She turned back to Colt, shoulders settling in that look of resolve he knew so well. “He doesn’t want to speak to her. Please, just respect his wishes.” She placed a hand on his face, cupping his cheek. “These two people are the closest reminders, besides his paralysis, of what happened that night. When he lost everything of who he was. You kids don’t know, but he lost so much more than just his ability to walk that night. Your dad was…irrational and depressed. He almost—”
“Almost what, Ma?” Colton asked softly, worried about his mom’s emotional state. Her hands were shaking and her eyes had turned glassy. There really was something more to this than just that one night. Something, he thought, only his father could make clear to them all.
She shook the thought away, brushing aside whatever she was going to say and removing her hand from his face. “It doesn’t matter.” There was no shakiness left in her tone, only a firm resolve that was emphasized by her tight lips and the way she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “I’m sorry, Colton, but I can’t support this. Not now. It wouldn’t have mattered if they were some random strangers. Your father would have gotten over the gay thing…I could have accepted it. I’m not as traditional as you seem to think.” She backed away from him, face softening from firmness into a sort of regretful pity. “You can’t be with these people and allow your father to move on with his life. Every time he sees them he’ll remember what he did.”
“What he did? He saved them, Mom—”
“I can’t have them here, Colton.”
“Why? And I don’t understand how you can accept my being in love with a man and a woman, but just not this particular man and woman? Tell me why.”
She swallowed, her crossed-arms stance suddenly transforming from a bearing of defiance to one of guilt-laced anger. “When I was in that hospital, waiting to hear whether your father would live or not, I kept wishing those kids had died in place of your father being injured.” Alex tightened his hold on Colt’s waist but kept quiet. “Over and over, I prayed for some twist of fate to make the world reverse and
go back in time, or for you to not have heard his phone ringing in the dining room. I play it over and over again in my head, thinking of all the ways that night could have been different.” Maggie walked up to their mom and placed a comforting hand on her arm. Colton was grateful for it, for while he couldn’t fathom hearing his mother speak this way, he also hated seeing her so lost.
“God, Ma—” Colton’s voice broke right alongside his heart. He had never seen his mother expose herself in such a way. She was always a loving mother but not one to discuss her feelings with her children.
“Now you’ve brought them here.” She took a deep breath, and leveled a stoic look at her son, all the emotions she’d laid bare in front of her children wiped clean with one breath. “I won’t have them here, Colton.”
“Because you feel guilty about wishing they’d died in Dad’s place?” Colton looked at both his lovers, unsurprised when he saw nothing but compassion on their faces as they watched his mother’s breakdown. She said nothing in response to Colt’s question and he felt the wall erect as she closed herself off from him completely.
“Nobody died, Mom.” Maggie tried to pull her back out from behind her emotional walls. “Dad’s fine, Bleu and Alexis are fine. It was ten years ago. Nobody blames you for thinking those things. Anybody would when in that position.” She smiled shortly at her daughter but remained silent. Maggie looked back at him helplessly.
“I can’t live without them. I won’t,” he said, holding out his free hand and pulling Bleu in tight to his side once she’d grasped it. “I love them. I’m going to spend the rest of my life with them. I’m sorry for throwing all this at you at once but…there it is.” He shrugged, not knowing what else to say, just staring at his mom and wondering if he would ever know the real woman underneath the facade.
A Different Kind of Perfect (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 23