by Tia Fielding
They sent emails to the owner and requested three different colors of wood that would represent each of them. Then each ring would have two of the shades, so that everyone would have the others with them at all times.
The rings were expensive, but none of them cared because they weren’t going to be getting new ones any time soon.
The order would take a while to complete, so the next bit was going to Anaheim.
If Leaf had one thing he’d thought he wouldn’t have to do anymore at this point in his life, it was meeting the parents.
Chapter Sixteen
THE PARTY was scheduled on a Saturday, so they flew into LAX on Friday. Curiously, Angel wasn’t on the same flight, but then Dev hadn’t coordinated with him at all.
They’d always bought their parents separate presents, even on Christmases and birthdays. They were—or rather, had been—almost like a single unit, but still two very different people. It had only made sense that they bought different things as soon as they had the money to do so.
After Leaf and Seth had learned that Dev and Angel’s mom gathered different kinds of glasswork, they’d introduced him to an artist friend of theirs, Erica, who did sculptures and window hangings. They had visited her workspace in the mountains, where she lived. The dogs had had a blast, and even Weasley—who they just couldn’t leave at home—had had fun, climbing trees and such.
Dev had been like a kid in a candy store. He decided then and there to put Erica’s business card with the present, because his mother would surely want something else from the remarkable young artist.
In the end he chose a large window hanging with a peacock motif. They packed it up together, and Dev could see Leaf’s expression at the amount Dev paid for the piece.
They had sent it to Anaheim beforehand, hoping it would make it there in one piece and on time, which it had. The call from his mother to tell him something had arrived and could she open it had made him laugh. He’d told her to wait, because it was a present.
For his dad, he’d gotten some pricey circuit-board cufflinks. There were a lot of crappy ones out there, but he’d gotten expensive ones made of titanium, so he was pretty happy about his purchases.
Then again, his parents had everything. Thoughtful presents like this were what made them the happiest.
THE FLIGHT was in the afternoon, so Dev napped, sandwiched between Seth and Leaf, who were both holding one of his hands and not caring at all when they got weird looks. It made him feel warm and fuzzy inside.
The rings would be nice when they’d arrive. Seth and Dev had been together for a decade and hadn’t thought they needed rings. Now they were all doing it because they wanted visible proof of their love and commitment to the three of them as a unit. A family. The fact that Seth and Leaf wanted it with Dev seemed a little bit unreal, but he’d take it.
WHEN THEY drove through the checkpoint to let them into the gated community where his parents lived, Seth and Leaf both gawked a little.
The old man in the booth noticed Dev and gave him a wide grin. “Well, isn’t it the other young Rice,” Herman said, obviously delighted.
“Hey, Herman, did my brother already arrive?”
“Two days ago now. I hear there is a big party tomorrow. I’ve asked for backup for the gates, just in case.”
Herman made it sound like a police operation, and Dev hid his amusement. If the old guy wanted some excitement, he could have his illusions.
“I hope everything goes peacefully,” Dev said, and waved at Herman, who opened the gate for them.
“This is where you grew up?” Seth asked, looking a bit thrown.
“Yeah, I told you we had money.”
“These are several-million-dollar houses, Dev,” Leaf said dryly.
Dev rolled his eyes and drove the rest of the way to his parents’ property.
It was a sprawling sort of place, almost Spanish-style, with terracotta and such. He parked the car in the driveway—a large round one—and got out.
“Look, it’s a big house, but they’re not… they’re good people, okay?” he said as they gathered their bags from the car.
“Hey, sweetheart, we never thought they weren’t. We’re just surprised. Anyone who raised you couldn’t be a bad person.” Leaf grasped his free hand, and Seth pressed his own against Dev’s lower back.
“Let’s go meet the parents,” Seth said.
“And my brother, apparently,” Dev grunted.
Yeah, none of them was exactly eager to see Angel.
With their garment bags and carry-ons, they made their way to the front door, and Dev rang the bell. He was about to comment that he did have a key but seemed weird using it, just as the door opened and his mother stood there, looking radiant as ever.
“Devil child!” she cooed and enveloped him in a hug that was like being swallowed by motherly love. She was five feet five inches tall if that, and she had curves many younger women would’ve killed for.
When she let him go, she ushered them all into the massive front hall and turned to Leaf and Seth. “I’m Nicole Rice, this one’s mother. It’s nice to meet you two,” she said, holding out her hand to Seth, who happened to be the closest.
“Seth Kent. Nice to meet you too. We’ve heard a lot about you, Mrs. Rice.” Seth beamed a smile at her and did the attractive scrunchy thing with his eyes that still made Dev weak in the knees.
Apparently, it worked on his mom as well.
“I’m quite happy to say the same, and please call me Nicole.”
Seth nodded and stepped to the side to make room for Leaf.
“And you must be Leaf,” she said, smiling.
Leaf looked oddly bashful under her inquisitive gaze. “Yes, ma’am, I’m Leaf DeWitt,” he uttered to a woman only a few years younger than him. The honorific sounded off to Dev’s ears, but suddenly he realized that Leaf thought of good mothers differently, just like Seth. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. Please call me Nicole.”
“Where’s Dad?” Dev asked, breaking the possibly gathering awkwardness. Preemptive awkwardness-breaking was his specialty in tricky situations.
“He took Angel to the office, something about opinions on some animated short they’re doing for the Supersecret Project.”
“Oh, right. I’d heard about those. Good of him to include Angel.”
“I think so too,” she said, nodding. “Oh, I made sure the biggest guest room is yours for the weekend. I didn’t think it would make much sense to try to cram a king-size bed into your room, Dev,” she called over her shoulder as she turned to go to the stairs, obviously showing them the way.
Yeah, Dev might’ve blushed at the implications, but then so did Seth and Leaf, so it was all okay.
He’d never stayed in one of the guest rooms before, but they’d gotten the one that was pretty much the size of the master suite at the other end of the second floor. The attached bathroom was massive and modern, with a Jacuzzi tub one might ordinarily see in high end hotels.
“Dev will be able to find you anything you might need. I’m going to go check the laundry. I told Andrew that he and Angel should be home by six for dinner, so I’m aiming to serve dinner at six thirty, because they’ll be late.” Mom grinned at them all. “So, around five thirty, if I could get some help in the kitchen, I’d appreciate it. Oh, you know, Leaf, Dev has told me you’re the chef of the family, so if you would be so kind….”
“Oh, absolutely, I’ll be there,” Leaf said, his expression suitably deer-in-the-headlights-y.
“Excellent,” she said cheerily, and left the room, closing the door behind her.
They all stared at each other silently for a few beats, and then Leaf asked, “What just happened?”
“Uh….” Seth looked baffled too.
“I see it’s been a while since you got the parental shovel talk,” Dev teased. “Because that’s what that was. Be prepared.”
Leaf looked scared for a moment.
“It won’t be to
o bad. She’s… protective.”
“And we haven’t even met your dad yet,” Seth murmured, making Leaf groan out loud.
THEY HAD time before Leaf had to go face the motherly inquisition, so Dev showed them around the house. He could tell both Seth and Leaf were a bit in awe at the obvious wealth, but neither of them said anything about it.
“It must’ve been great growing up in this house,” Seth said when they got to the media room, which was basically a home cinema with some additional gaming consoles and things added to the mix.
“Yeah, it was. I mean, we didn’t move here until Angel and I had turned eleven, I think. But yeah, for our teens it was awesome. We were pretty popular, not that our house was anywhere near the fanciest one in the neighborhood. We went to a private school, so there was always going to be someone richer, which was just fine for us.”
“I can understand that. I’d expect that the stereotype of the richest kids being brats and mostly liked because of the things that allows them to have is correct?” Leaf mused as they walked toward the back of the house and into the backyard, which Dev had left last.
“Oh yeah. There was this ambassador’s daughter who was a horrid bitch. Dated this jock, the son of a CEO of, well, let’s say your house has electronics from the company. Anyway, they were the most horrible people. Spoiled brats who had everything, except an actual, loving family or rules.”
“So all those teen shows on TV don’t get it wrong, much?” Seth smiled sadly.
“Well, other than the fact that no sixteen-year-old ever looks like they do on the shows, no.”
For November, the weather was pretty nice. Then again, it was California, so there was that.
“I think I need to change into some shorts,” Dev said thoughtfully, eyeing the pool. “A swim after dinner might be fun.”
“Not before dinner?”
“Well, you’d be missing out since you’re going to have your shovel talk.” Dev looked at Leaf, smirking.
“Seth can swim with you. If you can lend him trunks.”
“You just volunteered me like that?” Seth tried to look affronted.
“Do you want him to swim alone? Are you not feeling like you need exercise?”
“Uh….”
“Thought so,” Leaf said knowingly.
“There’s always extra swimwear in the mudroom closet. That’s where we usually change. It’s not a mudroom really, just what we use for the purpose. Utility room gone wild, more or less,” Dev explained as he held a hand to Seth. “You sit here and soak in the sun. We’ll be right back.”
He gave a kiss to Leaf, who then sat down into one of the deck chairs around the pool.
THEY FOUND good enough swim shorts for Seth, and Dev’s old board shorts he used whenever he was at home were folded on the top shelf.
“Lime green and orange, really?” Seth asked, looking at the garish shorts Dev was pulling on.
“Yeah, a gag gift from Angel. There’s no way I can swim here and not use them.”
“Oh, sibling thing.” Seth nodded solemnly, but the corner of his mouth twitched and his eyes showed his amusement. “In any case, those shorts are an insult to all humanity.”
“Eh, you get used to them.” Dev got them towels, and they went back outside.
Leaf peered at them, shielding his eyes from the sun with his hand. “Well, there’s a sight for sore old eyes,” he murmured, grinning at them. Then he did a dramatic double take. “Except for those shorts.”
“Hey, they haven’t rescinded my gay card yet,” Dev said, smiling as he walked to the edge of the pool. He raised a brow at Seth and gracefully dove into the water.
When Dev surfaced again, Seth made a splash. He turned around and treaded water, waiting for Seth to rise to the surface too.
“Now I wish I had time to join you,” Leaf said wistfully as Dev and Seth embraced and kissed softly.
“How much time do you have?” Dev asked, and Leaf looked at his cell.
“Ten minutes.”
“Be early. She’ll like that.”
Leaf’s brows rose a little. “Oh, okay.” He got to his feet and stretched. “See you later, then.” Leaf seemed to steel himself before going inside the house.
Dev snorted.
“He looked like he was going in front of a jury or something,” Seth sounded amused.
“In a way, he is,” Dev said, moving to float on his back.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I mean, my parents love us, but Mom especially is superprotective. So while she wouldn’t say anything to me if she didn’t like you two, it would definitely be something she made known in all the little ways. If she really, really didn’t like you, she’d tell me.”
“Basically what you’re saying is that she’s a good mother?”
“Yeah, exactly.” Dev smiled, then sighed when a cloud moved and the sun hit him straight in the face.
“Missing the California sun?”
“No, not really. It’s really nice in here, but I like Colorado much better. Seasons and all.”
“True.”
After they’d floated a while, Dev swam a few laps and then realized he was thirsty.
“I think it’s like half an hour or more until dinner, so I’m going to go get us some drinks and be right back,” he said, moving to the ladder to pull himself up.
Seth made a groaning sound behind him.
“What?”
“I forgot you were wearing those eyesores….”
“Oh fuck off, love,” Dev said, chuckling as he walked to the mudroom, where he could get to the kitchen without trailing water all over the family room and dining room.
He got to the hallway connecting various utility spaces and the garage, when voices murmured in the kitchen. Dev snuck up to the door that was open just a bit, enough for him to lean to the wall beside it and listen in.
“It’s not just about the age, Leaf, you’ve got to understand that,” Mom said over the sounds of chopping.
“Oh, I do. It’s not like Seth and I haven’t thought about this long and hard, as much as Dev has, I assume.”
“Do either of you have experience of polyamory?”
“No, not personal experience. I… in my childhood, I don’t know if Dev has told you about any of it, but the way I was raised, there were poly relationships. Monogamy wasn’t something I saw much at all. I think of love and sex differently, although with Seth, for the last decade, we’ve been completely monogamous.”
“Until Dev came along.” Mom’s tone was thoughtful.
“Yeah. We didn’t expect anything like this to happen. I guess if I’d felt differently about it all, more… I don’t know—if I’d thought monogamy was the only way, then there might’ve been trouble. But there never was, not between the three of us.” The way Leaf said the last bit was telling, and Dev bit his lip and tried not to laugh.
“Oh, my other son,” Mom said, snorting. “For a smart young man, Angel can be a bit of a prude. He takes things so very personally, when they’re not about him in the least. I suppose he’ll fall in love eventually and that will fix things for him.”
Dev could almost feel the “I would hope so” Leaf was holding in, and the sudden giggle and chuckle told them that his mother had caught Leaf’s expression, whatever it had been. Dev smiled.
“I think you’re doing your best. You and Seth have enough life experience to know what you’re doing to the capacity any of us ever know when it comes to love.”
“So, we have your blessing?” Leaf hazarded, voice cautiously playful.
“You have my blessing. I still want to talk to Seth too. And I expect my husband is wanting to give you the shovel talk as well.”
“Oh goodie,” Leaf grunted.
Dev walked quietly a few steps back, then closed the utility room door louder than needed and let his bare feet slap on the tiles.
“Hey, how’s it going here?” he asked and kissed his mother’s cheek as he passed her.
“We should b
e ready for six thirty, as I planned. Even before that, but this stuff will keep, so it should be fine.”
“Cool. I’m going to take drinks for us to the back and swim a bit more. I’ve missed the pool,” he confessed, and his mother smiled.
“You should go swimming in Colorado. I bet there are indoor pools you could use. It’s good exercise, and one you’ve always liked.”
“Yeah, we might have to look into that,” Dev agreed and took the water bottles to Leaf. He tilted his head for a kiss, and Leaf granted him a chaste, mother-in-the-same-room approved one. “Alrighty, have fun cooking!” He grinned at Leaf at the understanding in his gaze. He knew Dev had heard everything. Leaf shook his head fondly and went back to chopping carrots.
GETTING A hug from his dad was awesome. It reminded Dev how much he missed his parents when in Colorado. Phone and video calls just weren’t the same as being physically in the same space.
“Are we late for dinner yet?” Dad asked when he let Dev go.
“Not yet. Well, you are, but you know Mom.” They grinned at each other. Living in the household with creative people had taught her early how to juggle schedules to feed everyone at the same time whenever possible.
Angel came in after Dad, looking awkward, yet still somehow defiant.
“Hi,” Dev said in a neutral tone.
“Hey.”
Dad looked between them and sighed. Then brushed it off—for now, Dev guessed—and asked Dev, “So, where’s your company?”
“Oh, they’ve been roped into setting the table, and Leaf helped Mom with dinner,” Dev said, ignoring Angel, who scowled.
“Great!” Dad, always the hyperactive optimist, said and followed Dev into the kitchen.
“Seth, Leaf?” he called, and his lovers came from the dining room, Seth with a bunch of unfolded napkins in his hand.
His dad traveled a lot, met a lot of people on daily basis, so meeting Seth and Leaf seemed easy for them all. They exchanged platitudes and sized one another up, and in the end, everything seemed peaceful and it seemed they all liked one another.