by Sean Michael
He often ate with Matt. He had a lot in common with the older man, who was looking forward to his granddaughters’ arrival with a quiet glee.
Ten hummed as he cut the baked potatoes in half and dug out the cooked flesh. Twice-baked potatoes were a favorite and went great with steak. They also reheated well, so if Daniel didn’t come eat with them, the food wouldn’t be wasted.
He heard soft footsteps, and then Daniel passed by, quiet as a mouse, earphones on, grabbed a Diet Coke and a pickle from the fridge, then headed out the kitchen door to the backyard.
Ten put seasoning on the steaks, then brought them out to the grill on the deck. “Hey, boss man.”
Daniel looked up at him, smiled. It never ceased to surprise him how young Daniel looked. He knew better, but the man looked like he was in his midtwenties.
“You listening to something interesting?” Ten asked. He rolled his eyes at himself. Obviously, or the man wouldn’t be listening to it, would he?
“My latest score. I want to make sure it sounds as intended. The orchestra was tight.”
“Is tight a good thing or a bad thing?” Despite his name, he didn’t know that much about music aside from what he liked and didn’t like.
“Good, in this case. How are you settling in?”
“Very well, actually. And the renovations are progressing really well. Have you noticed the new wall color in the hall? And the carpet?”
“I haven’t, no. I’ve got a set of stairs from basement to the third floor so I don’t bother anyone with my hours. I’ll have to come and see.”
Frankly, he thought Daniel might be less worried about the triplets’ arrival if he did more to prep for it, but he guessed that’s what he was getting the big bucks for. “You wanna come now? The steaks can wait. I can show you what I’ve done with the nursery and the playroom, too.”
“Okay. If you want. Sure. Why not.”
He thought Daniel was a little lost, a little caught in himself.
“Come on.” He set the steaks beneath the lid of the grill and headed back inside. “I really like the rug I went with.” It was a spray of rainbows—colorful, bright, happy.
“Yeah? Cool. I wasn’t sure if you were going with tile or carpet or what.”
“It’s an industrial carpet. Softer than tile, but durable. The paint on the walls is washable too.”
“I imagine washable is important with my girls. I scribble on the walls a lot.”
“Do you?” That was rather charming.
“It’s an easy way to score big pieces.”
That was hilarious, really. This fastidious man, drawing on the walls. They went up the stairs, the walls a dark blue in the hallway, the bright rug keeping it from feeling small.
“The biggest room is just missing a bit of furniture to be ready as the nursery, and I turned the next biggest into a playroom. Again, we’re just waiting on furniture.” He had to admit, he’d enjoyed not having a budget.
“Wow. Look at that. It’s definitely not white anymore.”
“No, it’s not. And see how all the little glass tables and vases and shit have disappeared? Those were begging to be trouble.”
“Did they get some use somewhere? We can donate them.”
“They’re packed away. I didn’t want to just get rid of stuff without talking to you first. I like the idea of donating them.”
“That’s fine. I’ll set Matt on it. It can do some good somewhere.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it can.” He went to the nursery. “Ready to see where your girls are going to sleep?”
“I guess.” Still, Daniel didn’t come in.
“I’ve got bassinets coming, along with a double crib that they should all fit in. As soon as they start trying to climb out, that’s when you switch them to a real bed, but we’ll worry about that when we get to it.” He did a presentation arm like on the game shows. “Isn’t the mural great?” The walls had been painted to look like a field with unicorns and rabbits.
“Oh my God.” Daniel stepped into the room, eyes wide. “That is fucking amazing.”
“Isn’t it?” It had fucking better be—it had cost a fortune. It was worth it, he thought, to finally get some enthusiasm out of Daniel.
“Yeah. Yeah, it really is. We need a sound system. The girls need one so I can play them music.”
“Did you want something that goes through the whole house? Or individual systems in certain rooms?” He could totally get whatever Daniel wanted put in. He was starting to get used to this money being no object thing.
“I have two systems set up house-wide. I’ll have speakers set up in these rooms with controls. I want the girls to live surrounded by music.”
“That’s great—sharing the things most important to you is a good thing.” He showed Daniel where the bassinets and crib would be.
“Are you going to have dressers? And those things for changing diapers? I want to help with that. I want them to know me. I don’t want to…” Suddenly Daniel clammed up.
“These are your kids, and I’m here to help. I can’t do that if you don’t talk to me. What were you going to say?”
“Nothing. Nothing, I’m just jabbering. What color are the beds?”
Nothing? Nothing, his ass. Still, it wasn’t his place to keep hounding over it.
“Well, the bassinets are yellow, pink, and blue—I figure we can assign each one a color and that way we can always tell them apart. The crib is white.”
“Good deal.” Daniel looked around the room again. “You’ve done a good job.”
“Thanks. It’s been fun, really, getting to put together a dream nursery. I only got one changing table. I figure just one at a time, you know?”
Daniel nodded, then headed back out, chewing on his bottom lip, eyes a million miles away.
“Penny for them,” Ten said when it was clear Daniel wasn’t going to say anything.
“Huh? Oh, just admiring. It’s a nice space. Worth the money.”
“I’m glad you’re happy with it.” He went to the next room. “The furniture is coming soon, and I thought maybe we could go together to pick out the toys and stuff. They’ve got some really neat toys for all ages these days.”
“Shouldn’t we see what they’re like first or does it not matter?”
“We can absolutely wait on the toys. There’s a few things we’re probably going to get regardless, but it can all wait.” He was happy Daniel had an opinion on something.
“You’re the expert. If they need toys before they come home, they’ll have toys.”
“They don’t need them before they come home. I just figure it might be easier for us to go get them before they’re home.” Three kids to the stores was not going to be a walk in the park.
“Oh. Oh, I see. Yes. I wouldn’t want them to get sick by being out. We can also order in.”
“No, not them getting sick. I was thinking more it not being easy to take the three of them out at the same time, you know? It’ll take some getting used to.”
“Yeah.” Suddenly Daniel looked so scared, so alone. The image disappeared in a heartbeat, the pale man offering him a smile. “It looks amazing. Thank you. Enjoy your supper?”
“Thank you—I’m glad you approve of what I’ve had done. And Matt’s joining me for supper—there’s more than enough if you’d like to join us.” They were going to have the next at least fifteen years together, likely more. He wanted to get to know Daniel better.
“I’ll see. I have some things to…”
“Danny, please.” That was Matt, quiet, sure. “Come be social. You’re worrying yourself to death. You’ve done everything right. You’re going to be a great dad. We’ll figure out triplets, but tonight let’s just have a couple glasses of wine and a great steak.”
“You totally don’t need to be worrying yourself so hard. It’s total
ly doable. Hey—there’s three of us and three babies so they don’t have us outnumbered, and we have fine motor skills. Not to mention it’s a gorgeous night out there and my twice-baked stuffed potatoes are worth making the time for.” He hoped he was sweetening the pot enough.
Daniel looked between them, then grinned and shook his head. “Outnumbered. It sounds good. I could use some company.”
“Score one for the nannies!” Ten put his hand up for Matt to high-five. The older man regarded him for a moment, then smacked their hands together.
“I’ll set the table out on the deck as you’re doing the cooking,” Matt offered.
“I’ll pick a wine.”
“Perfect. Unless anyone wants their steak really murdered, they’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.”
Daniel headed to the little room that served as a wine cellar, and Ten headed to the back with Matt. “Thank you, by the way. He seems so…”
“Scared?” Matt nodded. “He’s terrified. It took him five years of planning to decide on a surrogate, on a plan. Then this.”
“This being three instead of one.”
Matt nodded again. “Yeah.”
“He’s got great help—and once those babies come and he holds them, he’s going to fall in love, and while the worry won’t go away, it won’t be important anymore.”
“I know that and you know that. We just need him to know.”
“So how do we do that?” He turned the gas on the grill on and hit the starter, smiling when he heard the hiss of the gas catching fire.
“He’ll figure it out. He needs time. He’s a very solitary man—he has me and Elle and her little band of hangers-on, and that’s it.”
“Elle?” It was the first time he’d heard the name.
“Danny’s best friend from high school. They were band geeks together. She’s a big, strapping Viking of a woman, an amazing composer, they collaborate a lot—her wife is a model from Tunisia, believe it or not. She half grew up here with us.”
“What does Elle say about the babies?” He put the steaks on, added more seasoning.
“She’s excited for him. She’s hosting a baby shower soon, I think. Elle and Tishia have a little girl that’s six. I think babysitting her made Danny pull the trigger on the surrogate.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting them.” He was trying to figure out about Daniel by talking to the people in his life instead of him. It was weird. He was going to have to figure out how to draw the guy out of his shell.
“I’m sure they’ll stop by soon. Someone will need to use the studio, or just to have a cup of tea and a chat.”
“I’ll have to introduce myself when they show up.”
“They’ll be here this weekend to discuss the shower. I’m not sure I need a baby shower.” Daniel shook his head but smiled. “Regardless, they’ll be coming for lunch either Saturday or Sunday, depending on Tishia’s schedule.”
“Cool.” He hadn’t even realized Daniel had come back. “You don’t mind me meeting your friends, do you?”
Daniel blinked at him, wide-eyed. “Why would I? I’m letting you help raise my babies.”
“Just checking.” Honestly, they needed to spend some more time together so he felt like he wasn’t just someone Daniel had hired.
“I brought up two bottles. One’s a little drier than the other.”
“So we should start with the other one first and move onto the drier one second, right?” He didn’t know a whole lot about wine, but that seemed right to him.
“Works for me.” Daniel opened the bottle, then fetched glasses from a cabinet next to the grill. “Acrylic. Keeps things from getting dangerous.”
Ten made a mental note to get a bunch of childproofing items and put the grill cabinet on the top of the list. At least they didn’t have a pool here. So much to do, so many things, but it was all good work. And he knew it didn’t matter how much he prepared, there’d be something he’d forgotten when the kids showed up.
He flipped the steaks and went to get the potatoes out of the oven.
Soon they were eating, and Daniel seemed to enjoy every bite. One glass of wine became two over the steak and Daniel opened the second bottle, obviously willing to stay.
“What are you most looking forward to?” he asked Daniel. Focusing on the positive couldn’t be anything but helpful, right?
“Seeing them, I think. Seeing what they look like.”
“Cool. I can’t wait to hold them. And smell them—babies smell amazing.”
“They smell all right,” Matt muttered.
“I did say babies,” he countered. “They sure do start to stink as they get older.”
“My daughters are not going to stink.”
“I’m gonna let you change all the diapers, then. Now boys do stink worse than girls—I’ll give you that.”
“Except for my Danny. He was a fastidious little one.”
Somehow that didn’t surprise Ten at all. “From what I understand, I was quite the stinker. I didn’t do baths, but I did do digging in the dirt.”
“Danny could spend hours with his blocks, singing with the radio.”
“What do you know about your surrogate?”
“She’s not the woman who provided the eggs. I chose her through an agency. Marsha is a professional surrogate. This is her eighth successful pregnancy.”
“That’s great. What about the woman who provided the eggs?” Who had Daniel chosen as the mother of his kids and why her?
“180 IQ, dark hair, blue eyes, plays guitar and piano, perfect pitch, no known genetic diseases.”
“Oh, you’re stacking the deck for genius musicians, I see.” At least Daniel should have a lot in common with the kids if that was the case.
“I am. I don’t care if they want to be scientists or teachers or anything, but they’ll be raised with music.”
“That’s cool. I think one of the amazing things about kids is the potential. They can be absolutely anything.”
“Yeah.”
Matt smiled at Daniel, the look warm. “Like you, my little prodigy.”
“Shut up.” But Daniel looked pleased. “You could have just walked away.”
“No. No, the day that I told your father I would become your legal guardian if something happened, that wasn’t going to be a thing.”
“I would have taken on any of the Wilson kids in a heartbeat if something had happened to their parents. I think it’s a nanny thing.”
“Well, good thing you’re both here. I can die happy.” Daniel stuck his tongue out at Matt.
“Nobody’s dying.” Not on his watch.
“No. We all need your music, Danny. The world needs your songs.”
Daniel blushed, but he looked pleased.
“So what do you do for entertainment?” Ten asked.
“Like… you mean in the studio?”
“No, I mean when you’re not working or sleeping. For fun.”
“I read a lot. I do a lot of crosswords and puzzles.” Daniel’s lips quirked. “I shop online and buy weird coffee.”
“Weird coffee, huh? I game a lot. Are you into that at all?” Ten asked.
“Like video games?”
He nodded “Yeah, exactly that.”
“I’ve played some, but it gets old, playing alone, so I stopped.”
“So now you have a game partner. I’ve got a bunch that you can play online, too. The partners are endless.” Ten did enjoy gaming.
“Yeah… Maybe. I’m not sure about the random crazies. I’ve heard some awful things.”
“I’ve had good luck with it. But you and I could totally play together without bringing in any random crazies.”
“I’d… I can try. Why not?” Daniel gave him a warm smile.
“That’d be great. How about tomorrow afternoon?”
He’d love to have a gaming partner.
Daniel glanced at Matt, who nodded and looked at his phone. “Your calendar is open the rest of the week, except for Elle over the weekend.”
“I’ll be done with work around two.”
“Terrific. I’ll make sure my extra controller works and have a choice of games available.” He was excited about this. He really did want to get to know Daniel better before the triplets showed up.
“Sure. I’ll probably suck at it. I haven’t played more than Bejeweled and Candy Crush in years.”
“I’ll be gentle with you.” He gave Daniel a wink.
“Don’t let him fool you. Danny’s a smart guy. He has a knack for things.”
He liked the way Matt jumped in to defend Daniel. It spoke to Ten. The deep love the men had for each other would serve Daniel well too. He knew what it was like to be loved by a father.
Matt poured more wine into their glasses and Ten took another sip before saying, “Oh, hey, you guys want some dessert?”
“There’s dessert?” Daniel’s eyes lit up. “What?”
Oh, maybe he’d found Daniel’s weakness. “Strawberry shortcake. I made it earlier this afternoon.”
“That’s my favorite.”
“No way!” He laughed. “What a happy coincidence.”
“Did you tell, Matt?”
Matt shook his head. “Nope. I didn’t even know he’d made it.”
“That’s cool. Seriously. It’s my favorite.”
“Then I’ll go serve it up.” He was pretty tickled over the whole thing, actually.
“Do you need help?” Daniel’s offer surprised him.
“Sure, that’d be great.” He grabbed a few dishes and headed into the kitchen.
“I’ll find a lighter wine to go with dessert, hmm, boys?”
“Oh my. Are you trying to make me drunk, Master Thorpe?” Ten fluttered his eyelashes outrageously, playing the flirt for a laugh.
“Nope. That’s me.” Matt headed to the wine cellar.