Choices and Changes Read online

  “Right this way.” Dean took a couple of steps toward the den, stopping and pointing out each person at the table, hands shooting up like roll call in school as he made quick introductions. As they walked through the den toward the back door where the promised cooler of beer was, he said hi to Tristan and Micah as did Isaac. “And this is Victor, the man of the house,” Dean said, stepping out into the bright autumn sun.

  “Dean, I am being happy you can make it.” Victor shucked the oven mitts he was wearing, grasping Dean’s offered hand with a firm grip. “And you are?”

  “Oh sorry, Vic, this is Isaac, Dusty’s future stepdad.” Dean apologized, grabbing a couple of IPAs from the cooler beside the grill, handing one to Isaac.

  “Nice to meet you, Victor, thanks for including us in the invitation.” Isaac twisted the cap off his beer, taking a swig while he looked around the large backyard. The deck they stood on led down to the yard that ran between the house and the pool. There was a decent-sized pool house off to one corner and beside that was the bridge where Victor, Andrew, and Mattie had said their vows. The small wood bridge led to the walkway and stairs that would take you down to the Sound and the dock where their boat floated. “You have a very nice home here, Mr. Dimir.”

  “No, I am not being Mr. Dimir, just Victor.”

  “Okay then.” Isaac nodded. The three of them shot the breeze and drank a couple of beers before the door opened and Tristan came out with Micah and Gabe.

  No longer sitting, his lower body blocked from view by the couch, Micah’s blade caught Isaac’s attention. Dean cringed inwardly, uncertain of what reaction Micah or one of his men might have to someone openly staring at his blade leg. “You’re the soldier—Iraq right?” Isaac asked Micah and he nodded in response. The tension in the expansive backyard was growing thicker by the second. Dean could see Tristan narrow his eyes, Gabe’s jaw ticking he was grinding his teeth so hard. “I remember Dusty talking about you with his mom on Skype. You’re with the lawyer and the shrink…these two.” He pointed his beer at Tristan and Gabe. “No, wait.”

  Micah barked out a laugh, slapping Isaac on the shoulder. “You’re pretty cool there Isaac, and you’re close. Yes, these are my partners. Tristan, who’s a psychiatrist, and Gabe who is our little jack-of-all-trades.” Gabe blushed under the appraisal.

  Isaac snapped his fingers. “Right! I was pretty close. There is a lawyer around here somewhere though, isn’t there? I think Maggie wanted him to go over some papers for her.”

  “Beau is an attorney; he’s the biiiiiiiiig guy, all attitude and ink wrapped in leather.” Micah stretched out the word big until it was almost comical, his larger partner pinching his ass and threatening him if he continued to stare at the leather-clad giant.

  “What papers?” Dean asked. Before Isaac could respond, the door opened and a stampede of men fell into the yard, rushing toward the grassy area, tossing a football around. He wanted to press for an answer, not liking the look of trepidation he saw in Isaac’s eyes but thought better of it.

  “Dad!” Dusty called out from the yard, motioning Dean over. “Come play with us.”

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d tossed the ball with his boy and was not about to pass up the chance. Downing his beer, Dean handed the empty bottle to Victor and jogged toward the rowdy bunch of guys gearing up for a game of flag football, Isaac’s comment seemingly forgotten.

  ~ Chapter 12 | You’ll Pay for That One ~

  “Oh my God, aren’t they the two cutest babies you’ve ever seen?” Maggie and Mattie swooned over their little ones and Adam couldn’t help but join in their enthusiasm. Astrid lay on her side, positioned just so with her wedge pillow. It was a gift from Kassie; she’d bought two when she and Mattie had gone shopping not long after they’d gotten Astrid and Kassie had announced her pregnancy. She was wearing an ivory sleeper with tiny pink roses sewn into the material. Right beside her, Xan lay on his stomach, his legs curled up under him, which Adam quickly discovered was the little man’s favorite position to sleep in. It didn’t matter if Maggie laid him on his back or on his side. Somehow, he’d wind up on his belly.

  “Adam,” Maggie mock whispered. “Gimme your phone please, so I can take a picture.”

  He did as asked, easily seeing over her head, as he stood a full foot taller, smiling at the sleeping little angels. Xander jerked when the camera flashed, stretching and yawning, the three of them holding their breaths and silently praying neither baby woke. Smacking his lips a few times, he calmed back down pretty quickly. When he did though, his hand was covering Astrid’s and Adam could swear the red-haired baby grinned. “Awwwwwww, did you see that? She smiled at him,” Maggie cooed.

  “Probably gas,” Mattie quipped, laughing softly.

  “Okay then, everything looks fine to me. I’ll get the blood draw to the lab tomorrow when I go into work and text you her levels. I won’t call unless we need to talk or I need you to bring her in.” Adam capped the vial of blood he’d drawn, stuffing the used syringe and alcohol pad into the travel-sized sharps container he kept in his medical bag since taking over Astrid’s care.

  Mattie was immediately on guard. “She’s okay though, right? I mean, you just said everything looked fine. Should I…we, be worried?” He was working himself up something fierce. In the brief time Adam had known the Dimir men, he recognized the love and devotion they shared, which multiplied where their daughter was concerned. He’d had to make the long drive out to Mamaroneck once at two in the morning after a frantic call from Mattie, who couldn’t string more than two words together to even tell Adam what was wrong.

  He was already dressed and walking out the door when Victor’s fucked-up dialect of Romanian English spewed through the receiver. “Adam, hang it on…” As soon as he was in the car, he switched to Bluetooth and backed out of the garage, listening to the shrieking tones of hysterical Mattie, probably-cursing-in-Romanian Victor, and the voice of reason, Andrew, trying to calm both his husbands down. “Adam, you are there still? We are needing you to come yesterday, please.”

  He chuckled. “On my way, Victor; can I speak with Andrew please?” Adam wanted to know what the hell had him up and flying like a bat out of hell in the middle of the goddamn night, and he wanted the sanest person in the room to tell him.

  “I’m here.”

  “What’s going on, Andrew?” Adam asked calmly. He figured that as long as he stayed calm, at the very least, Andrew would remain calm as well.

  He could almost see the exasperation in Andrew’s bright blue eyes when a heavy sigh rented the speakers in the car. “These two are going to drive me to drink, I tell you.” Andrew’s statement was immediately followed by a fresh litany of Romanian in the background.

  “Oh yeah, well kiss mine Dracula, in English!” Mattie shrieked.

  “See what I have to deal with?” Andrew groused. There was a rustling sound and then blessed silence. Due to the lack of hysteria and exotic, colorful words, Adam assumed that Andrew had left Mattie and Victor with the baby and escaped into the hall. Or perhaps he was heading downstairs to raid the liquor cabinet as promised. “Okay, sorry; it’s like the fucking Bates motel over here right now with those two.”

  That description, while likely apt, made him laugh out loud. Andrew talked while Adam drove, praying he didn’t get pulled over along the way. “What’s wrong with the baby?”

  “She’s burning up with fever, projectile vomiting, and screaming like a banshee. Of course, the screaming may well be Mattie, but I’m pretty sure I heard her too,” Andrew deadpanned. Adam appreciated how level-headed the man was. They’d wound up having to admit the baby to the hospital for a couple of days, the medication she was on due to her HIV wreaking havoc on her poor little body and weakening her immune system, her three dads by her side the entire time.

  A soft thud pulled Adam back to the present and he walked over to the window to see what it was. “Sorry!” One of the men out in the backyard shouted up.

  “They�
�re playing football, aren’t they?” Mattie said it more as a statement than a question, never taking his eyes off the babies in the crib.

  “Yep,” Adam told him. “I’m going to head downstairs, and before you ask again or start freaking out, Mattie, I’m confident that everything is fine.” He tried to reassure the young father. A quick nod was all he got, so Adam took it and ran, heading downstairs to spend some time with his man. After putting his medical bag and the cooler that held the fresh blood sample away in the back of the SUV, Adam made his way to the party in the backyard.

  His senses were assaulted the minute he stepped out of the house. An Echo sat in the middle of a large picnic table, classic rock straining to be heard over the rowdy group of men playing flag football. The smells wafting off the large grill Victor stood guard over made Adam’s mouth water while a shirtless, sweaty, and smiling Dean walking toward him made Adam weak in the knees. He grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the cooler for them before taking Dean’s hand and walking over to the line of lounge chairs on the other side of the pool.

  “You look good enough to eat, babe,” Adam said to Dean, licking his lips comically, making his boyfriend laugh. Dean settled at the foot of the lounge chair, between his legs, shouting encouragement to his son who was currently running the ball across the expanse of the big yard with several guys following.

  Linc ambled over to where they were, dropping onto the lounger beside them and guzzling a bottle of water until he sucked the air out of it. “Come on baby, you can do better than that!” he shouted to Chris.

  “Which one is yours?” Adam asked.

  “Big motherfucker with long, auburn hair.” Linc blew Chris a kiss when he looked his way and winked. “He played football all the way through high school, had a scholarship to play for the University of Alabama.”

  “But then I went and fucked it all up.” Chris finished Linc’s sentence, bending to steal a quick kiss before claiming the lounger next to his boyfriend.

  “I sense there is a story there; care to share?” Adam asked. So Chris and Linc took turns telling Adam and Dean the story of Chris’s DWI and the dark place he was in for several years afterward. Adam could see the love they had for one another in their eyes when they looked at each other, hear it in Linc’s voice when he talked about walking on eggshells around his big, brooding boyfriend.

  “It’s not something I’m proud of, and I still think about Amanda every goddamn day. But everything happens for a reason, and had I not traveled that path and found my way back from stepping off the edge of a cliff, I never would have met Linc,” Chris said, leaning toward Linc, the two men meeting in the middle to share a kiss. “And now I have this amazing family, which includes the two of you by the way, that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.”

  “You two help Beau at the center as well, right?” Adam asked, though he was pretty sure that was what Beau had told him.

  “Yes, happily,” Chris responded before standing and offering a hand to Linc, pulling him to his feet and kissing him once more before they headed back to join the others.

  Dean scooted back until he was lying on Adam’s chest and he worried briefly that their combined body weight might be too much for the chair, but the thing barely creaked, obviously well-made and able to hold a few hundred pounds. Dean reached for his hand, twining their fingers together and resting their joined hands on his bare stomach. It took every ounce of self-control Adam had not to run his hand down the expanse of Dean’s sweat-damp abdomen, into his shorts, and take hold of his dick. As it was, simply the thought of touching his lover had his own dick stiffening, and if the soft laugh and almost imperceptible wiggle of Dean’s ass was any indication…he knew exactly what effect he had on Adam.

  “You’ll pay for that one later.” Adam growled into his ear.

  “Promise?” Dean goaded him. Adam squeezed Dean’s hand.

  Adam looked over when the back door opened to see Beau and William carrying out card tables chairs. “Need a hand with that?” he called out as he and Dean stood and headed their way. They set up three long card tables next to the picnic table—the picnic table and one card table lined up vertically with the other two tables between them horizontally, creating one very large table that everyone could gather around.

  They were soon joined by Maggie, Mattie, and the babies as well as Jordan and Kassie. Isaac came over and helped Jordan carry one of the round glass-top tables from the pool and set it underneath the large oak tree, scattering several chairs around the table for Maggie, Mattie and Kassie to sit with the babies away from the afternoon sun. Large bowls filled with salad, potatoes, corn, and beans along with several bags of chips were laid out on the tables as well as plates, napkins, and plastic utensils.

  Victor piled ribs, chicken, hamburgers, and hot dogs onto a large platter, setting it in the middle of the big table they’d put together. “I will be putting the steaks on now,” he told Dean when he asked about them. “Andrew, can you bring out the buns?”

  “Yes! Thanks, babe, I knew I forgot something.” Andrew headed toward the back door, reappearing minutes later with bags of buns and bottles of ketchup, mustard, and relish in his hands and a tray lined with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and pickles. Slowly but surely, everyone started grabbing seats around the table, and Adam was pleased to see Isaac sit with him, Dean, Dusty, and David and start a conversation with the two boys. He’d jumped at any opportunities to spend time with his partner’s son and boyfriend. But Isaac and Maggie wouldn’t have that luxury living so far away.

  As was the norm at this big house when Victor, Andrew, and Mattie hosted an event, the required calm chaos settled over the large group of people gathered there that particular day. It reminded Adam of the monthly dinners his parents would host back home in Pretoria. His mom and the people that worked at their house would cook all week in preparation. His dad would fill his truck with tables and chairs from the embassy to spread out on their property and local musicians would attend to play. It was in that moment, surrounded by the motley crew of men, women, and children that were the foundation of this nuclear family helmed by the Dimir men, that Adam not only realized how much he missed his family—but that this was now his family as well.

  Looking back on this day specifically, Adam would forever remember the smiles and laughs he and Dean shared with their immediate family specifically. Not a care in the world, none of them knowing how drastically their lives would change…from one day to the next.

  ~ Chapter 13 | Couldn’t Be Happier ~

  “This place is pretty amazing. It reminds me of Texas Land and Cattle in Dallas; don’t you think, sweetie?” Maggie asked their son when they walked into BB’s Bar and Grill.

  “A bit, yeah,” Dusty agreed. Dean smiled to himself, remembering many meals the three of them had shared at the popular Texas restaurant over the years.

  Dean and his family, including Maggie, Isaac, and the baby, had been invited to join the others for lunch at Beau’s place. The bar was closed to the general public on Mondays, but Beau often hosted his and William’s friends for lunch on Mondays when they could all hang out and visit without all the people and noise that would normally be bouncing off every wall in the establishment.

  “Hi dere, folks.” Beau walked around the bar, coming out to shake everyone’s hand. The man looked like a gentle giant when he wrapped an arm around David, walking him toward a large table that was already set for their group. “How you doin’ dere, David? Yo momma been givin’ ya any more trouble?” David shook his head and smiled up at Beau. Dean had been worried that David’s mother might cause problems after her impromptu visit, but thankfully, she’d not been seen or heard from since.

  In addition to being an attorney, Beau ran a youth center and home for LGBTQ kids, New Horizons, where he helped those that had been abandoned by their families or were otherwise homeless. They were his passion, the children at the center. In fact, he’d recently hired Tommy Johnson, who’d been with Beau at the
center since he was fourteen, to assist the current director, Terry, who had also been one of Beau’s kids years back.

  After Victor, Andrew, and Mattie started donating time and money to Beau’s center, word of mouth spread and their numbers had doubled. “It kills me how many more kids are out dere, fending for dem’selves ’cause dere family tossed dem to the curb with da trash,” Beau grumbled when Dean and Adam had gone with Dusty one Saturday to volunteer at the center.