by Ann Grech
“You know what I can’t figure out?” Mace asked out of the blue, continuing before either Rick or I could answer. “Why did the landlord fix up so much of the house—the new steps, the siding, the windows. There’s so much that’s brand new, but you said it hadn’t been up for sale. What was the point of spending all the time and money fixing it?”
I laughed but it held no humor. Anna had been asking for things to be fixed up from the moment she moved in, but even though promises were made, nothing had been done. “Landlord didn’t do any of this. The whole place was crumbling before I got here. I did it all in the week before Gracie was born.”
“You did it?” Mace’s question held only curiosity. “How?”
I shrugged. “The stairs were rotting, so I pulled them apart to see how they were put together, then bought new lumber and mimicked it. It’s pretty rough, but it does the trick.”
Mace snorted and Rick shook his head, adding, “I can’t believe I forgot that. We talked about what needed to be done, didn’t we? Caden, this isn’t rough, this is natural talent. If you can pull apart a set of stairs and copy them, you’ve got skills.”
“I always wanted to work with my hands,” I mused, running my fingers over the rounded edge of the step in front of me. “Maybe there’ll be some jobs in construction I could do without training.”
“My brother’s friend owns a construction company,” Rick chipped in. “He and Angelo have been friends for years. I could ask him to put in a call for you when you’re ready to start working again.”
I gaped at Rick. He surprised me every day, but I shouldn’t have been. He was a treasure, far better than what I deserved. Excitement pulsed through me at the thought of getting to work with my hands every day. No, it wasn’t excitement. It was hope.
“That’d be a dream come true.” I didn’t want to be outside anymore. I wanted to show both of them how much their support meant. “Come on, let’s head inside.” I grinned at them and reached for their hands, tugging both to their feet.
Screw it.
I pulled Rick to me and pressed my lips to his, demanding entry. There was no slow burn to this kiss—it sparked and ignited a wildfire. Teeth clicked and tongues dueled as we devoured one another. When we broke apart for air, Mace traced his lips up my throat, and I turned into his touch, greedily sucking on his tongue. His moan was rough and deep, torn from his chest.
We fumbled, tripping over each other to get inside. Dad had gone to bed, and I was thankful he wasn’t bearing witness to me lustily dragging my men through the house. We made it halfway through the darkened living room when Gracie’s cry broke through the silence. I groaned, then felt instantly guilty for my outburst.
“Hey, stop that,” Rick chastised me. “Don’t feel guilty for hating bad timing. You don’t love her any less. You’re an amazing father.” He squeezed my hand.
“You two go to bed. I’ll join you soon,” I assured them, detouring into Gracie’s room. Picking my baby girl up from her cot, I smiled. The love I had for her was fierce, and my rekindled hope bloomed brighter as I looked into her eyes. I understood the look on Dad’s face in that photograph, the love and purest of joy he’d experienced watching us grow up. I was experiencing it too.
I wiped away Gracie’s tears with my thumb and kissed her forehead. I wished my sister could’ve been the one doing it, but I knew how blessed I was. To have the privilege of being my precious daughter’s first love meant the world to me.
“I love you, Gracie,” I whispered. “Daddy will fix everything.”
Chapter Twelve
Caden
The week passed by fast and Rick had to leave too soon. Waiting in the airport lounge for his flight to be called, with a bunch of strangers around us, had me thinking that our seeing him off might not have been the smartest idea. There was no way I was letting him go without saying a proper goodbye, and Mace wanted to do the same. How the hell were we going to do that without shocking the shit out of the other passengers? Not that I cared what they thought, but still, why ask for trouble?
My leg was bouncing and I was wringing my hands.
“What’s wrong, baby?” Rick asked me, resting his hand on my knee. Even that simple touch was enough to settle me.
“How are we gonna say goodbye with all these people around?”
“I don’t give a fuck what people think,” he said before leaning in and brushing his lips against mine. “I’ll kiss my men goodbye, and then I’ll kiss my baby girl goodbye too. If anyone has a problem with it, well, it’s their problem. They can look away.”
I grinned, knocking into his shoulder with my own. Warmth bloomed in my chest. “You called Gracie your baby girl. You really want that?”
He grasped my hand and lifted it to his lips, kissing my knuckles. “I do.” He smiled shyly. “What do you want her to call you?”
I shrugged, then remembered my dream. “Daddy?”
“When she learns to talk, do you think maybe she could call me papa?”
I smiled. “Will you teach her to speak Italian?” He nodded and I grinned, leaning in to kiss him. I sobered quickly. “I don’t want you to go. It’s killing me knowing you’re gonna be by yourself.”
“Mace wants to help. Let him, please. It’ll make me feel better knowing you’ve got the support you need to come home quicker.”
“It’ll make me feel better too,” Mace added, wrapping an arm around Rick and nuzzling his temple. The lingering kiss he placed there showed me just how much he was struggling. “But C’s right. It sucks that we’ll be separated.”
The boarding call came and went, and most of the lounge cleared out. There were only a few remaining families left saying goodbye to relatives. When Rick stood, Mace and I followed and the three of us hugged in a tight embrace. I breathed in his naturally spicy scent, wanting to imprint everything about him into my brain.
His hand tightened on my shirt, and suddenly holding him wasn’t enough. I kissed him, long and slow, trying to tell him everything in my heart, but I needed to say the words too, needed to tell him exactly what he meant to me.
“You came when I needed you most. You’ve given me so much.” I shook my head. How did I tell him he gave me my hope back? “I love you.”
“And I love you.” He nuzzled my nose and brushed a kiss over my lips. “I’d never not come to you.”
Turning to Mace, he kissed him too, earning a few gasps from around us. “I love you too, Mace. Come home soon, yes?”
“As soon as we can.” Mace nodded and ran his fingers through Rick’s thick hair before pulling him close again and whispering, “Love you too.” They kissed again, and a soft moan left my lips. God, they were beautiful together.
I kissed along Rick’s jaw and earned a few more murmurs from the people left in the lounge. I tried to block it out, but when I heard the word “faggot” from a woman standing next to us, I couldn’t ignore it anymore. Maybe I was being childish, but my first reaction was to give her a one-fingered salute. Ignorant cow. She muttered something and walked past, and I went back to kissing Rick and Mace.
At the announcement of the last boarding call, Rick pulled away and leaned down to Gracie in her stroller, kissing her softly on the forehead. He whispered something to her and stood, picking up his backpack.
Mace hugged me close as Rick walked backward toward the gate. “See you soon.” He smiled at both of us and turned away quickly, heading for his flight.
We watched until the plane taxied away. As it did, Gracie woke up and cried her little heart out. Cuddling her close, I wanted to do the same. A piece of me was missing, gone with Rick, but it gave me renewed purpose and a sense of urgency. The sooner he was back in our arms, the better.
“Let’s get back to the house. I’ve got some packing to do.”
I changed Gracie, strapped her into her car seat and gave her the bottle while Mace drove George the Jeep home. The first thing I noticed when we got there was Dad sitting on the bench underneath the big tree in th
e yard. My heart sank seeing him there. I hated that I couldn’t help him get better, and so far, the grief counseling we were attending was hard-going.
“Hey, Dad,” I ventured tentatively. “You okay?”
He handed me his phone, an email on the screen. From what I could gather from a quick scan of it, it detailed an offer on his boat. He’d spoken to the harbormaster the day after we’d decided to make the move, telling him the boat was now for sale and as soon as it was gone, he wouldn’t need the mooring anymore.
“Apparently someone wants it. The offer is really low though. It’s going to take some haggling to get the price to a point where I can accept it.” Dad’s voice was flat. I was torn—happy that it might’ve sold, but worried about Dad. Pushing down my selfish desire to be with both Rick and Mace, I let him continue. “It’s real now, you know? The boat going….”
“Are you reconsidering, Dad? We can work things out if you are. I don’t want you to feel pressured.” Mace and I shared a look. He’d paled as much as I was sure I had, anxiety knocking around in my chest.
“No, I want this. I think it’ll be good to have a change of scenery. It’s a little overwhelming getting an offer so quickly, that’s all.”
Mace sat beside him and patted Dad on the shoulder. “Queenstown is beautiful. There’s this lake there, and the fishing is so damn good.”
Dad smiled, and I dropped a kiss on Mace’s head as he motioned for me to hand Gracie to him. I sat on the other side of Dad while Mace painted a picture of rolling white-capped mountains, crystalline skies, green pastures and a blue lake that had the township nestled on its shores. It really was the perfect place.
Mason
September
“This one. This is it.” I dropped the side of the cot we were looking at in the baby store. It was easy enough to work, and the white would go perfectly with the other furniture we’d already picked up—a purple bookshelf, toy box, a fluffy rug and a white set of drawers.
“Hey, look at this,” Ricky pointed out. “It converts into a tent when the sides come off and it’s being used as a bed.” Sure enough, Gracie would be able to have a tent attached to the top of her little bed when she was big enough to no longer need the sides of her cot.
I grinned and nodded, imagining purple flags and pillows littering the bedroom with the beautiful view of the mountain beyond the picture windows. “Hell yeah.”
We called over the sales attendant and paid at the counter. It’d been a busy few days since I’d flown back into New Zealand. After not seeing Ricky for nearly two months, being in his arms after so long was indescribable, but just like every time Caden and I came together, there was someone missing. It was a waiting game now until he was with us again. Gracie’s adoption had been signed off while I was in the air, traveling to Queenstown to collect my permanent residence visa. Now Caden just needed Gracie’s passport and they’d be on their way.
They were coming home—well, to Ricky’s house anyway.
Funny that, the idea of home. On paper I had nothing here, and yet I had everything. The man standing next to me, who’d excitedly shared with me his plan to decorate Gracie’s room as we were driving from the airport to his house, and the one half a world away who was coming to us as quickly as he could. He and our baby girl were on their way, and I couldn’t wait.
Before I left, Caden, Gracie, and I were sharing a room, and Gabe had the other one in the tiny apartment they’d rented. Caden had been ruthless, culling anything he didn’t need to take from the house, and yet the apartment was still full of boxes. He’d sent his sister’s things to Queenstown early so they’d be out of the way, and more boxes were yet to arrive.
By the time I’d flown into Queenstown, Ricky had emptied out the bedroom I’d stayed in and was converting it to Gracie’s room. Light and breezy, it had a Juliet balcony overlooking the soaring mountains peaked with snow. When Ricky showed me the empty room, I instantly pictured it as a nursery. Moving to the double doors, I was captivated by the clouds gathering over the ranges, filtering the sunlight. We watched as the beams of light struggled to pierce the clouds, losing the battle as the evening rains began. There was an innocent romance in watching the fat drops fall from the sky: Ricky and I cocooned in the warmth of the dry bedroom. Standing in his embrace, I basked in his affection, his strong arms wrapped around my waist and his head on my shoulder.
All the items would be delivered the next day, so we walked out of the overly warm store and into the cool spring breeze hand in hand. We were meeting Ricky’s brother, Angelo, across the street for lunch and I was suddenly nervous. Sweaty palms must have given me away, because my man squeezed my hand when we crossed the threshold into the cafe.
Taking a breath, I looked around, not that I knew who I was looking for. It didn’t take long to spot him though; Angelo was unmistakable. He looked just like Ricky—dark hair swept back in a perfect coif and the same smiling whiskey-colored eyes as his brother—but he was very different too. Unlike Ricky, he had a slimmer build and was at least as tall as me. He wore black-framed glasses, suspenders and a bowtie, the epitome of a hot nerd. Another man was sprawled out beside him, his arm along the back of the booth they were sitting in, wearing a tight white tee with a leather jacket tossed haphazardly on the chair next to him.
“Hey, guys,” Ricky greeted them after we’d ordered, sliding into the booth and motioning for me to do the same. “This is Mason. Mason, Angelo, and Trent.”
Angelo eyed me up and down, and I swallowed, waiting for him to finish his scrutiny. When he cracked a grin, every muscle in me relaxed. Family was everything to Ricky, and I was pretty sure I’d just passed the first test. Sure, I’d met the rest of Ricky’s family—his mom, dad, and sister—over Christmas in Italy the year before, but that was different since we weren’t together then. Now we were, and Angelo’s opinion mattered.
“Hi, Mason.” Angelo’s Italian accent rolled the words off his tongue, and I marveled at how different he and his brother sounded. Where Ricky’s voice was deep and smooth, reminding me of thick caramel, Angelo’s was more melodic, a little higher in its register, but still sexy with that accent. He half stood, holding out his hand to me, and I eagerly grasped it, smiling at him. His eyes danced with mirth when he said, serious as a heart attack, “So… Rick tells me you’re double-teaming my brother.”
Still halfway into the booth, I hovered there, frozen. As if I were a cartoon character, my jaw dropped open and I stared at him, speechless. I could just imagine big “WTF” signs popping up instead of my eyes. I had no idea what to say, was at a total loss on how to act. He was yanking my chain, surely. But he was so damn serious.
Fuck me!
I closed my mouth, then opened it again to say something, but nothing came out. How the hell did someone respond to that?
Ricky’s laugh had me turning to him, and the heated look he gave me had my face warming. “Leave him alone, Angelo, you smartass.” Tugging on my shirtsleeve, Ricky pulled me into the seat. “Come sit with me.”
I slumped into the seat and let out a whooshing breath, making Angelo laugh and Ricky lean forward to punch him in the arm, adding, “You’re a bastard, know that?”
Angelo gave us a saccharine smile, but his companion, Trent, was much more solemn. It took me a moment for the pieces to click into place—this Trent had to be the same man Ford worked with, the same homophobic bastard who’d nearly ended Reef and Ford’s relationship before it’d begun. Hard to believe it now, because they were so solid—nothing could tear them apart—but in the beginning, Trent’s interference had driven Reef away.
Why would Angelo do that? Why would he bring a man to meet his brother’s boyfriend when he’s so clearly against two men being together? I could only imagine his opinion on the three of us having a relationship.
Impressing Angelo became secondary. First, I needed to make sure Trent didn’t stick his nose in and try to do some damage.
I assessed the man in front of me, meeting his gaze
and holding it. Damn, the broody look worked for him. About Ricky’s build, his dark hair was cut short, framing a strong nose and jawline. He had a natural-looking tan, but his eyes stood out most—almost black, they were fathoms deep. Soulful. Hard and judgmental at the moment. He hadn’t said a word, but the scowl on his face was enough. I wasn’t welcome in his presence, or maybe it was the fact that Ricky and I were being open about our relationship. Either way, I wasn’t going to change for him, and I wasn’t going to let him poison us.
“So, what’s your problem?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. When he smirked, trying to hold back a laugh, I couldn’t help my grin. It shattered the sudden tension I’d caused in the group, and Ricky visibly relaxed beside me.
Our coffees were delivered, a double espresso for Ricky and a long black for me. Trent flashed a smile at the waitress and it transformed him, making her swoon a little. I could only imagine how many women fell at his feet when he gave them that teasing look.
I shook my head and huffed out a laugh. He was a player—a bad boy player.
Feeling brave, or maybe recklessly trying to provoke Trent, I spoke to Angelo, replying to his earlier comment. “Your brother’s too much for one man to handle. I need Caden to help me out with him.”
“Oh my God, brain bleach.” Angelo covered his ears and cringed while Ricky and I laughed and Trent smirked, then hid it quickly. He was a hard nut to crack, that one, but his slight nod left me confident that we might, one day, make it past average first impressions and glares. I hoped there was that chance—it’d be awkward not to get along with him, given how close Ricky was with his brother.
“So you’re cool that there’s three of us?” I hedged.
“Yeah.” Angelo smiled. “I’m just glad that Rick finally managed to bag both of you. I’ve had months and months of ‘Mason this’ and ‘Caden that.’” I squeezed Ricky’s hand under the table, shooting a glance at him. He looked embarrassed at being called out, but hell, I was exactly the same. I’d talked Reef’s and Ford’s ears off about my two men without even realizing it. “I think he was struggling with the fact that there’re two of you, but who the hell cares? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: love is love and all that shit, and good sex is even better.”