Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ellis breathed a sigh of relief the minute Brian’s rental car turned out of the drive and onto the main road the next morning. The guy wasn’t so bad, but he started out on a bad foot with Ellis, and it had not ever gotten a whole lot better.
He pulled the tote of Christmas lights across the porch where he’d set up the step ladder and pulled out one strand he’d sat and untangled while they’d watched movies last night. He needed to get these decorations up so the kids could do the inside of the house. It was getting late days.
“You want a hand?” Ichabod wandered out his big heavy sweater and jeans.
It was maybe not the best defense against the weather, but it would work.
At least it was sheltered here on the front porch, and it was a good look for him, made him seem like a wild bohemian artist, the way the sweater had a bit of a hole in it and the jeans were all frayed at the bottom.
That could work as some sort of sexy fantasy—sort of like the naughty librarian thing but more artsy.
“I would love a hand. That way I don’t have to move the ladder quite as much.” If he had Ichabod’s hand in the strands of lights, he could do two hooks at a time.
Ichabod grinned. “I’ll do it for a kiss per strand.”
“Well, now that is a bargain and a half,” Ellis said. He hadn’t stepped up on the ladder yet, so he moved over to Ichabod to give the man a deep, long smooch.
“Mmm.” Ichabod wrapped both arms around his neck, clinging to him as they kissed, swaying back and forth a little bit. “Tasty. Coffee and Ellis.”
“It’s a good combination, huh?”
“Perfect. Zane is watching the little ones, so he can go out tonight, Michael is spending the night at Will’s, and I’m all yours.”
“Oh, damn.” That was an early present on its own. The girls would sleep like rocks tonight, and they could have adult time.
“We decorate the outside. Tomorrow’s all about trimming the tree. It’s all about us. I even have a bottle of wine.”
Now that was intriguing. It was very rarely that Ichabod imbibed, and he was interested in getting giddy with this lover.
“I can totally get behind that.”
They started stringing lights one after the other. The entire house was blinking and lit up with multi-colored lights that made rainbows all over the white snow.
They hung tinsel bells and whatever the hell that thing was that Chrissy had picked out at the Dollar Store and all this garland…
By the time they were done, Zane had bundled up the girls and come out to help.
Allie and Chrissy were adorable, and Zane seemed…happy.
God, he was glad to see that. He figured that was Ichabod’s Christmas present. Michael had told him some tales about what all Zane had done in the city, and that young man was unrecognizable in the teen he knew.
Sometimes a guy needed a chance and a place to start over.
He was proud of the kid.
“So, what’s for supper?” Zane asked.
“Lasagna.” Ellis winked. Zane loved that stuff.
“Cool. I’ll eat before we go out, then.” Zane grinned at him. “Katie’s obsessed with vegan food.”
Ichabod chuckled softly. “Oh, it must be love.”
Zane’s cheeks went red. “Da-aad.”
“Hey, son, nothing wrong with compromising for your loved one,” Ellis told him.
“True that. We all do things for people we care about—that’s love.” Ichabod winked at him, stuck out his tongue. “For instance, I hung up the singing Jingle Fish.”
Ellis chuckled. “Well, now, that’s something. Dad will be amazed. That thing was the bane of his existence.”
“Yes, but you love it. I saw you carefully putting the batteries back in.” Ichabod winked at him.
“Don’t make kissy faces, old dudes.”
“Hey, now, brat,” Ellis said. “Be kind to us. Wait until you see how old my dad is.”
Zane gave him a bright, glinting grin. “Is he like, a boomer or a Gen X?”
He snorted and bustled the babies back toward the house. “He’s so a Gen X-er. He’s an older Gen X but totally not a boomer.”
“Zane, Grandpa Vic was a boomer.” Ichabod explained.
Zane blinked. “Oh. Right. All you guys are confusing.”
“Yeah, well, we can’t help it. Being old.” Ellis flipped the kid off behind Ichabod’s back, and Zane cackled in a maniacal sort of way.
“Anyway, I like the fish,” Ichabod mused. “It reminds me that my cowboy is a weird little man.”
“That’s me, baby. The gayest cowboy ever.”
“Dude, no. You should see the stuff that’s on the internet, right? Like, on your phone. You do know how that works?”
Ellis was going to kick that kid’s butt. “I don’t know, man. Are the internets that thing that has the tic-tacky and the snippy-snappy?”
Zane’s eyes went wide, and he swore the kid paled some.
Ichabod waited for a count of five before bursting out laughing, bending over to slap his thighs. “Oh my God, you should see your face, Zane. Your dad used to say he’d never met a modern cowboy who wasn’t born with a smartphone in his hand. You know that was for your benefit.”
Zane grinned, but he was still a touch pale. “I never know with you two.”
“Hey, I have a website. I update it. I take pictures!”
“Dad, I take your pictures. You’ve always got clay on your camera lens, so everything’s always blurry.”
Ichabod’s lips parted and then he shrugged.
“Okay…” Ichabod admitted, and then everybody started laughing again, including the girls, even though they had no idea what they were laughing at.
Little Chrissy came up to Ellis and held up her arms. “Hold me.”
“All right, baby girl.” Ellis scooped her up. “You okay?”
She nodded, then shook her head. “I have to potty.”
“All right, let’s go.” He waved Ichabod off. He had this. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t been together for a while now.
He got her on the pot and left her there with the door open so he could hear if she called out for him.
Allie came wandering by, heading into her bedroom and coming back out with a baby doll and her little yellow blanket. “I’m gonna go snuggle on the sofa with Daddy. He wants to know if you want coffee.”
“I’ll totally take a cup of coffee, baby girl. Could you tell him yes, please. Thank you.”
“Okie smoky.” She gave him a grin, “It’s just us tonight. You, me, sister, and daddy. It’s like a slobber party.”
“It is. I love that. We’ll have our baby girls time.” He loved that she was so happy. He’d worried about her when he first moved in.
“I like that. I like to have time with just us. I like to have time with everybody too. But it’s kind of neat. Daddy and Bell and us.” She gave him a worried grimace. “Does Santa Claus know you live here now?”
“He does!”
“Oh good!” Her relief was written clear on her face. “It’s important that Santa knows. What did you ask him for?”
“Oh, honey. I asked for everyone to be here for Christmas and to be healthy and happy. And for aftershave.” Since he knew that was what the “kids” had gotten him.
“Boy perfume right? You like boy perfume? The one in the black bottle? I-I-I-” She was panicked for a second, then she took a deep breath. “I will tell Santa that is what you want. We can write a note.”
“I’m done!” Chrissy called.
“I’m coming!” he sing-songed back. He glanced back at Allie. “I would love if you would tell Santa that that’s what I would like — the boy perfume in the black bottle.”
“Okay!” She was so relieved, and he took pity on her.
“I’ll be right back with Sissy.” He winked, then headed in to get Chrissy so Allie could get her wind back.
Chrissy got herself settled, washed her hands, and was hurrying out of the bathroom so he could flush the toilet. She was still a little bit scared of the toilet flushing sound.
He honestly didn’t believe that he’d have been able to fall in love with these kids so fast. These little girls had him wrapped around their little fingers, and Michael was honoring him every day with how he wanted to be a cowboy. And Zane, damn it, that kid was trying. He was giving it his all.
They headed back into the front room where Zane was shrugging on his coat. “…so, is it weird?”
“Is what weird?” Ichabod asked, eyebrows drawing down.
“Well, like, you’re paying your boyfriend to work for you. That’s— I don’t know. I mean, it’s not like y’all are working together. I don’t know how that works. Is it weird?” Zane shrugged, looking confused. “More than anything, I’m curious if you… should I not ask?”
“Hey, you’re my son. That means you’re part of this family.
If you have a question, you can ask. If I don’t feel like I can answer, I won’t, but I can answer this one.
Ellis is working for the trust — that’s who pays him, not me.
He’s not my employee, the trust is his employer, and you know what?
It is a weird situation. I mean, think about it.
Think about how weird it is for me. What if, once Chrissy is a grown-up, if you all decide that as a group you hate me and you want me off this land?
I’ll have no choice but to go. It’ll be yours. ”
“We wouldn’t do that! Dad, you have to know that we would never do that. Even when we’re mad at each other. We would never do that to you.” There was nothing quite as passionate as a teenager.
“Well, and I hope that I will always have a place as your dad. I hope that you all have this amazing life here, and when you go off, we make a huge success out of everything. That everybody makes money for a long time to come and has homes for a long time to come and is happy.”
Zane tilted his head. “Are you going to marry him? Do you think that would ever happen?”
“I don’t think that right now we’re in a place to know whether we’re going to get married. But I don’t think we’re in a place where we’re not ever going to get married. I think we have to learn to live together. And when it’s the right time, if it’s the right time, then we’ll do that.”
“I don’t want him to adopt me.”