Limitless Love: A Polyamorous Charity Anthology

14. Eric

Dinner with the entire family is always interesting. Sawyer and I are in charge of dinner, because Vincent doesn’t cook and neither Logan nor Blaise can be trusted in the kitchen.

“So, we won’t be meeting Graham?” Sawyer asks.

“I don’t know. Depends on if you want to hang out that late. He didn’t want to call out, and I respect that. I’ll pick him up at about ten, and you’re welcome to hang around until then.”

“Would he be okay with that?”

I laugh and shake my head. “Absolutely not. He’s not shy, more…unsure. But he’s really settled in now. It’s amazing what love and safety can do for a person.”

“Maybe next time then,” Sawyer replies. “Wouldn’t want to scare him off.”

“I appreciate that.”

We finish dinner, and Vincent comes in to help us carry everything to the seldom-used dining room table. I love seeing my family sitting together for dinner. It’s not at all how I imagined my life years ago, but it’s so full of love I wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s nice having a househusband to cook dinner, isn’t it?” Blaise asks.

Evan smiles. “Absolutely. Two of them at that. Why didn’t I think of that before?”

Blaise shrugs. “Beats me. That’s okay, you’re here now.”

Logan sighs. “Stop corrupting my boyfriend.”

Blaise looks at him and smirks. “But it’s so much fun.”

“Knock it off,” Sawyer says, as he takes a seat next to his husband. “Please don’t corrupt Evan or Daley.”

Daley just sighs and rolls her eyes. I’m sure she’s more than used to her parents’ antics, because both of them are ridiculous.

“Let’s save the corrupting of nine- and twenty-two-year-olds for another time,” I say. “I…have something I need to talk to you about.”

“Is it PG? My kid is here,” Blaise asks. Sawyer smacks his arm. “What? It’s a legitimate question!”

“Ignore my idiot husband. I’m still working on training him,” Sawyer says, making everyone laugh.

I sigh, and wonder if this is really the family I want to bring Graham into. But as soon as the thought enters my mind, I realize that yes, this is exactly what he needs. What little I know of his biological family tells me that he didn’t have this—whether the teasing or the stress-free family dinner.

Well, almost stress-free. The thought of telling them what I did the other night scares the shit out of me.

“Go on, Uncle Eric,” Daley says. “Dad can only behave for so long.”

“Hey!” Blaise protests, as everyone laughs.

“Okay, okay,” I say, once I get myself under control. “I…have a bit of an announcement to make.” I suck in a breath and meet first Sawyer’s and then Vincent’s eyes, trying to draw strength from them. “I asked Graham to marry me, and he said yes.”

I don’t think I’ve ever heard my family this quiet before. Picking up my glass of wine, I take a healthy swallow.

“Are you sure, Eric?” Blaise asks. “It’s been what, three weeks?”

I nod. “Yes, everything is moving very quickly, but…I’m sure. As sure as you and Sawyer were. I wish I could explain how I feel about him, but I can’t. All I know is, as sure as I am that I’ll be with Sawyer and Vincent for the rest of my life, I want to be with Graham too. I know we don’t have to get married for that to happen, but we need this. This is for us. I’m not sure how else to explain it to you. He’s made me happier than anyone else I’ve tried to date. I understand your reservations—his age and the timeline of everything. But I’m his. Plain and simple.”

Sawyer gets up and moves around the table to me. He tugs me out of my chair and draws me into a hug. He has about two inches of height on me and it feels so good being wrapped in his arms.

“I love you,” he says. “I’ve loved you for a long time, and I get it.” He tightens his hold. “I truly do.”

And maybe he does. If not all of it, then at least some. Before Blaise, marriage wasn’t on the table for any of us, and even as I watched my best friend, my lover, marry the man he loved, I never thought it would happen to me.

It’s not that I love Graham more than Sawyer and Vincent. I love all three of them equally, but they all play different parts in my life. I need them all, and always will, but my relationship with each of them differs vastly. That I know everyone here will get it, even if they don’t understand completely, helps ease some of my worry.

Arms wrap around me from behind and I sigh, relaxing further as Vincent hugs me to him. Surrounded by the two people who watched me grow up, who’ve been by my side as friends and as partners, eases my nerves and settles my erratic heart. But…something is missing.

Three weeks ago, I would have said my life was perfect, but I’m very aware that there’s one person absent from this embrace.

“As parents,” Sawyer whispers, “Blaise and I worry, because anything impacting the family includes Daley as well. But I will never deny you happiness, Eric. Never.”

“I know.” I kiss him briefly. “It’s part of what makes you an amazing man.”

“I’m not breaking,” Vincent teases. “I was serious when I said I never wanted to get married, but”—his tone turns serious—“I want you to have whatever you want, love. You’ve given me so much in our time together, and I can’t possibly begin to repay you for that. How could I deny you? I might not know Graham well, but I’ve seen the way he looks at you. If anyone deserves that, Eric, it’s you.”

Tears fall from my eyes as the fucking assholes give their blessing. I knew I had great men at my side, but this? It’s more than I ever expected. I can’t wait to show Graham this level of unconditional love.