DEV went home the next morning, much as he didn’t want to. There was only so long he and U could impose themselves on Aiden. They hadn’t had another chance to explore things, which sucked, and now he got a hard-on every time he thought about Aiden and their stolen moments in the basement. It almost made him feel like a teenager again.
He went to his appointment with Logan, little U sleeping through the whole thing, thank God. And now he had the ball rolling to adopt his boy. The paperwork was started and a private detective had been dispatched to find his sister. If she’d sign the papers terminating her parental rights, it would be a huge step toward making this arrangement legal.
When he made his way home again, the last person he expected to see in the lobby of his building was his mother. She looked more tight-lipped and drawn than ever. He guessed that being disappointed in both your children took a toll on you.
For a half second, he debated trying to slip into the elevator unseen; after all, U was in the sling as quiet as a mouse, and he probably would have gotten away with it. That was childish, though, and he wasn’t a kid anymore. So he took the bull by the horns and walked over to the little lounge area with its coffee table and two of the most uncomfortable couches in the world.
“Mother.”
She looked at him, her nose wrinkling. “Devon. Is that your sister’s baby?”
After this much time, it was his baby. And that answered the question of whether or not she knew Terry had given birth.
“Nope. This is my boy.” U had begun to squirm and he put his hand on the bottom of the sling, began bouncing without even thinking about it.
“Your boy. You are a deviant. Have you repented?”
“I don’t have anything to repent for, Mother.” Except maybe his angry thoughts toward her.
“Nonsense. Give me that child. I will not have him corrupted.”
Dev sighed. He’d been hoping she might have changed, eased in her opinion at least a little.
“He’s not yours, Mother. Go home.” That was what he was going to do. He wasn’t going to waste any more time on her.
“Not without the baby.”
“It’s not up to you. Go before I call the police.”
He didn’t have any actual proof the baby was his, but then, neither did Mother. And he had fellow tenants here at the building who’d seen him with the baby for months, as well as three different doormen, Aiden and the others, plus he had paperwork started.
He gave her his most stoic face, then turned and went to the elevators, where he kept his head held high as he pressed the Up button.
It wasn’t until he made it into his condo with the door locked behind him that he began to shake. Fuck. Jesus. Shit. What if she came back? What if she wasn’t alone when she did? What if she called the cops, and what if they were bigots like her?
U began to wail, and he knew he had to calm down and take care of his boy, but he couldn’t stop shaking and his fingers were clumsy with the bottle.
When he finally got it into U’s mouth, the crying stopped, thank God.
What was he going to do?
Yanking his phone out of his pocket, he called Aiden.
Aiden picked up almost immediately. “Hey, honey! How goes it?”
He froze. He absolutely froze, his mouth open, unable to come up with the words. “I…. She…. Oh God.”
“Dev? Dev? Where are you? Are you safe? I’ll come get you right now. Linds! Get your shoes on!”
“No, I….” The protest died on his lips, though. He wanted Aiden to come get him and U, tell him everything was going to be all right, and whisk them away somewhere safe, somewhere his mother didn’t know. “Please. I’m at the condo. Ring up when you get here.” He didn’t want to risk Mother still being there if he went down to wait.
“I’m coming. Give me fifteen minutes.”
The phone line went dead, but it felt good to know Aiden didn’t even need an explanation, didn’t need more than a few words.
U finished his bottle and Dev got him out of the sling and began to burp him. As he was doing that, he turned over the diaper bag, letting everything spill out. He filled it back up with a bunch of diapers, several outfits, bottles, and the container of formula.
By then U had burped, and he put the little guy in his swing, turning it on low. That gave him both hands to find a sports bag, and he threw several days of changes of clothing and his toiletries into it. To that he added his Kindle, his laptop, and several games Aiden didn’t have.
Having something to do eased his nerves, and by the time he zipped up the bag, he wasn’t shaking anymore.
The buzzer sounded. “Dev? It’s me? Do you want me up or do you want to come down?”
“I think I can handle everything. I’ll be down in a minute.” He put his bag in the umbrella stroller and put the diaper bag beneath it. Then he put U back into the sling and headed out. It took him three tries to get the key into the lock on his way out. Okay. So he hadn’t entirely stopped shaking.
He got into the elevator and pushed the button for the lobby. He hoped like hell Mother had left, but even if she hadn’t, he had backup now.
Aiden was right there, Bee in her sling, Linds holding one hand. “The car’s right out front.”
No questions. No stress. Just let’s go.
He didn’t look around to see if she was still there; he simply smiled at Aiden and followed him out.
“Oh shit, U needs a car seat.”
“I have an extra.”
“What?”
“I bought a new one the other day on clearance. We’ll have to squeeze the three together, but I haven’t taken her old one out of the back yet.”
He was going to cry if Aiden kept being so wonderful. He gave the man a sideways hug so they didn’t squish the babies. “Thank you.”
“Come on. Let’s get going and you can tell me everything. I promised Linds an ice cream, so we’ll have to stop to do that.”
“I think an ice cream sounds like the perfect treat.” Together they loaded the kids into their seats and his stuff into the trunk. “I brought enough for a couple of days for both of us,” he admitted, knowing he’d presumed that would be okay with Aiden but pretty sure he was right.
“Perfect. I have a washer and dryer too.”
“I can always come back for more if I have to.” Surely he’d be feeling better about coming back after a couple of days. Maybe he needed to give Logan a call.
They settled in the car, and Aiden pulled into traffic. Dev looked behind them, checking to make sure no one was following them, and then he sat back and sighed. “God. Thank you for doing this. You have no idea.”
“Anytime. Are you okay?”
“I will be. My mother was in the lobby when I got home. She said she wanted U. Well, she called him ‘the baby.’ I don’t think she actually knew his name. I don’t think she knew Terry’d had a baby until now, and that’s why she showed up for him today.” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he got ramped up. “I don’t know, maybe the search for Terry today was what triggered it. For all I know, they went to her first to find my sister and that’s how she knew. It could be my fault.”
“Shh. Shh. Logan’s on it, right? Don’t worry. He’s safe and so are you. We’ll go get ice cream and head home to work, okay?”
He nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I think I should call Logan, though. Let him know what happened. That she was there and wanted the baby.” He took a few more deep breaths. “God, you must think I’m a wuss to be so scared of my mother.” She’d already ruined his life once, though. He’d had to start from scratch with absolutely nothing when she’d kicked him out for being gay.
“Listen, you don’t have to apologize. If you feel threatened, you do. I’m here for you and U.”
“I like Dylan.” He did. The fact that Linds had been the one to suggest it made it even better. He looked back, the sight of the three kids making him smile. “Thanks,” he said softly as he settled back in his seat.
“You’re welcome, honey.”
“We’re all going to get ice cream, Dylan Daddy.”
“Yeah, we are. What’s your favorite flavor?” It was good to concentrate on the here and now, on the kids and Aiden.
“Choccy chips!”
“Good choice, good choice. What about you, Aiden? What are you going to indulge in?”
“I’m considering a mocha chip milkshake.”
“That sounds decadent.”
“What are you having Dylan Daddy?”
“Hmm. I think I’m going to wait and see what they have. Then I’ll decide.”
“You can have choccy like me!”
“Maybe I will. Or maybe I’ll have something different and then we can share. I get a bite of yours and you get a bite of mine.” With every passing moment of normality, he felt better.
“Daddy? Can we share?”
“We can, yes. Sharing is very cool.”
He’d have to make sure he chose a Lindsay-friendly flavor. He was okay with that.
There was a parking spot one store down from the ice cream shop, and Aiden slid into it.
“You ready to get some ice cream, guys?”
“Ice cream!” Linds hollered, and both babies startled and began to cry.
“Uh. Maybe that was a bit loud?” Dev undid his belt and got out of the car, going around quickly to reach in and grab up U. He put his boy over his shoulder and began patting U’s back and doing his patented “please don’t cry” bouncy dance.
“Don’t cry, Bee and Dylan! I sorry.”
It didn’t take long to quiet either baby down, both of them clearly having been startled and needing a little soothing to get their equilibrium back.
Aiden put Bee in her sling, and Dev did the same with U, pleased that U seemed to be happy riding in it.
Then they headed inside, the smell so familiar—he wasn’t sure why all ice cream parlors smelled the same, but they did.
Linds moved to the counter right away, pressing her nose against the glass to look at all the ice cream bins. Dev looked to the board on the back wall, checking out the flavors. Tiger’s Tail, Rum and Raisin, Butter Pecan—he hadn’t seen some of these flavors in a long time, and it reminded him of going for ice cream when he was a kid. There had to be at least twenty flavors listed there.
“I’m never going to be able to choose.”
“Choccy chip,” Linds announced. “Pretty please.”
Aiden ordered that for her along with his mocha chip milkshake.
Dev pondered having a milkshake too, but in the end he couldn’t resist the Tiger’s Tail. Orange sherbet with licorice shot through—he licked his lips in anticipation. That had been his dad’s favorite and he always helped Dad finish his cone. Always. The memory made him feel nostalgic, but he pushed away the bad feelings about what had happened when he’d come out so they wouldn’t color his reminiscences. Nobody could take his memories from him.
He’d share with Linds, create a memory with her, right? Right.
Once they’d paid and all had their treats, they sat at one of the tables by the windows so they could look out and watch the people walking by.
Linds attacked her ice cream, little tongue licking like crazy. Dev chuckled and took a lick of his own. It tasted exactly like he remembered.
“Oh, ice cream does make everything better, doesn’t it?”
He nodded at Aiden. “It totally does. It’s like magic.” He held his cone out to Linds. “You wanna try my Tiger’s Tail?”
“Is it nummy?”
“I think so.”
“’Kay.” He did love how she trusted him, little tongue flicking out.
He held it so she got mostly the orange sherbet, figuring she’d do better with the licorice in very small doses. “Well? What do you think?”
“Orn… orn… ornange!”
Aiden chuckled. “That’s right, honey. Orange. It’s tiger colored.”
“Can I try yours, honey?”
“Uh-huh.” She pushed hers over to Dev, not a bit of hesitation in the act.
He took a lick. “Mmm. That’s very good.”
“Uh-huh. It’s nummy.” She had a dot of ice cream on the tip of her nose. She was the cutest thing ever.
“I like mine better,” he told her, wondering what she would make of that.
“Well, it’s yours.” Ah, the logic of toddlers.
“Very true.” He looked over at Aiden, who was watching them with an indulgent smile. “Your daughter is a smarty-pants.” And the interactions were soothing his soul.
“I is very smarty smart, Dylan Daddy.”
He laughed softly. “You are, Linds. You totally are.”
She grinned at him like it was the most normal thing ever.
“I needed exactly this.” He reached over and took Aiden’s hand, squeezed. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad to help.” Aiden squeezed his fingers, offered him a warm smile.
He held on to Aiden’s hand for a few minutes before sighing. “I suppose I should call Logan. Bring him up to date on Mother, and then I can put it behind me for a few days.” He really didn’t want to have to think about her any more than he needed to. It hurt too much.
“Let’s do it from the house. You’ll have privacy, and I can watch the kids.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.” How many times had he said that to Aiden in the last few days? And why did he think he was maybe going to be saying it a whole lot more in the coming weeks? God, he hoped this didn’t drag out too long.
“It’s okay. I know that family stuff can be crazy.”
“Yeah, I guess you do at that.” He checked U, finding his son staring up at him. He made faces at U, looking for a smile or even a giggle.
U blinked at him and blew bubbles, little feet kicking madly in the sling. He laughed, pure joy filling him. This was worth anything, even having to face his mother’s hatred and whatever else she planned to lob at him.
“Dylan! You learned bubbles.” Linds pressed a sticky kiss to his son’s face.
U’s eyes crossed and he jerked, then laughed, the sweet giggles contagious, and Dev found himself laughing too.
Bee squealed, like she was fighting for Dev’s attention.
He smiled down at her and stroked her sweet baby cheek. “I know you’re here too, princess Bee.”
She turned and latched on to his finger, sucking hard.
“Somebody’s hungry, Aiden.” He looked at Aiden, realizing their faces were very close like this. He wouldn’t have to move very much at all to take a quick kiss.
“Is she?” Aiden smiled at him and stole a quick, chaste kiss.
He smiled right back and nodded, then licked his lips, but he couldn’t taste Aiden there, only sweet from his ice cream. He straightened again, his finger sliding from Bee’s mouth with a little pop. “Yeah, she totally is.”
“Good thing I came prepared, huh?” Sure enough, Aiden pulled a bottle from the diaper bag and popped the nipple in Bee’s mouth.
“It is. And good thing I gave U his bottle after I called you. He’ll be good for at least another hour. I brought the formula with me, but I didn’t get a chance to make any bottles up.”
“Babies are a lot of works,” Linds informed him.
He couldn’t disagree. “They are. But they’re worth it. They grow up to be smarty smart kids like you.”
“With teefs. The baby has a teeth.”
“Yeah. Teeth are a lot of work for babies, aren’t they?” Everything was a lot of work for babies, in fact. Growing up was hard.
“Uh-huh. They cry lots.” She scooted closer to him, watching him closely, and then she licked her ice cream around the edge, exactly like he did.
Oh man. Did that make him feel good or what? He took a few licks from the top.
Sure enough, Linds did the same thing.
He kept licking his cone in new ways, to see her copy him. He glanced up at Aiden, giving him a grin.
“You two must be friends now.”
“I think so.” And that was a good thing, for as much time as he was spending with the family and as much as he liked Aiden and wanted to keep seeing him, it would have sucked if she hated his guts.
“Good.” Obviously Aiden agreed. Thank God. “Finish up your ice cream, Linds. We need to get home and have nap time before we play Legos.”
“Nap time. That sounds amazing, actually.” Dev could totally feed U and then nap for a while. Now that the adrenaline was gone, he felt tired and used up. The encounter with his mother had taken a lot out of him, despite how short it had been.
“Yeah. I figured you could make your phone calls, and then we could all have a rest.” Aiden touched his wrist, the caress gentle and light.
Dev turned his hand to link his fingers with Aiden’s. “That totally works for me.” He’d almost forgotten about having to call Logan—shoving the hard stuff to the back of his mind.
“Good deal. Everything will work out, hmm?”
He loved that—the easy assurance that things would be fine. He wanted that sort of Zen.
“From your lips to the universe’s ears.” He got up and made sure U was still properly seated in the sling, then threw out the napkins they’d used as Aiden cleaned Linds’s face.
He took a couple of breaths and told himself it was all going to work out all right. With a good friend at his back and U’s little face looking up at him, he could believe that everything was going to be fine.