Chapter 31
Mrs. Hayes was going to know her son’s come was coating my nether bits, free of even a decent pair of panties to keep the mess contained, I just freaking knew it.
Travis’s parents pulled in the driveway a moment ago, and I ran my hands over the hand towel again, anxiously turning to make sure the entire house was in perfect condition for their arrival.
I was a ball of nerves, even with the multiple orgasms Travis gave me an hour ago, I was a wreck. But as I took a deep breath, forcing my shoulders to drop from my ears and my mask of calm, cool and collected fell into place.
“Don’t worry, Mama,” Toby tugged at my hand and gave me a sheepish grin as we headed toward the front door as a family. “I’ll tell them I can burp the alphabet. That’ll impress them.”
My shocked gasp was swallowed up by Travis’s deep laugh as he came into the living room from the kitchen. “Honestly, kiddo, that might seal the deal with them.”
And then the knock came.
I had imagined a million different scenarios every time I thought about the moment, I would meet Trav or Eli’s parents, and part of me imagined stern faces, disapproving stares, judgment even over the children clinging to my legs, shyly watching Hal and Maggie Hayes enter our new home.
But what I got instead was two of the kindest smiles I’d ever seen before.
Travis’s dad, Hal, wrapped his son in a back-slapping hug, a man worthy of the feat considering he was a massive as my lover was, and his mom, Maggie, pulled him in like he was still a boy who needed a licked thumb wiped across his cheek to clean him up.
And my heart melted just a tiny bit more, letting the soft gooey stuff in the center get even closer to sliding out and over the edge of my ice walls.
Maggie somehow balanced two casserole dishes like she worked at a fifties carhop diner on skates. And Hal followed behind her with a six-pack of root beer tucked under one arm and a vase of the most beautiful flowers I’d ever seen.
Eli helped Maggie set her dishes down and then grinned as she fussed over him like he was still sixteen and crushing on the older, Mrs. Hayes. Travis’s shoulders eased as Hal squeezed Eli’s shoulder on his way to the counter to set his own loot down.
Trav’s parents didn’t just welcome Trav and Eli equally, they were loved and claimed without hesitation.
“Well now,” Maggie said with a grin that immediately made my nose prickle with stupid emotions, “You must be Frankie. I’ve heard so many incredible things about you from both my boys.
It’s such a pleasure to meet you.” She pulled me into an affectionate hug that felt like one my own mother gave me on hard days, and I struggled not to melt into it.
“It’s so nice to meet you.” I managed as she pulled back with an affectionate brush of her fingers against my cheek, before she turned to the two shadows hiding behind my legs. “And these little sugarplums must be the grandbabies I’ve been learning so much about.”
Emmie gasped and looked up at me with wide eyes. “Grandbabies?” She stumbled over her words in shock. “Mama! They think we’re theirs.”
Before I could figure out some sort of explanation to fit my kids' maturity, Maggie crouched down, tucking her long flowing western skirt between her knees so she was on Emmie’s level, eyes twinkling.
“Honey, anyone who belongs to Trav and Eli, belongs to us too. You’re our family now, as long as that’s okay with you. ”
Emmie, wide-eyed, leaned in closer to Trav’s mom and whispered, “Do grandmas always bring casseroles? Because my grandma can’t cook to save her life.”
Hal snorted, and Eli grinned from behind Maggie, cutting in to defend my mom’s honor, “Hey, Mrs. Blake might not be able to cook, but that woman makes the best baked goods.” He rubbed his belly for dramatic effect.
Maggie booped Emmie’s nose with a wink, “Sounds like your other grandma and me will be the perfect match made in Granny-land then! I’ll do the cooking, and she can bake because I can’t make a pie to save my life!”
“Neither can my mom!” Emmie cheered excitedly! “Eli and I ate half of her first experiment earlier!”
“Oh, my lord,” I groaned, and Maggie rose to her feet with a good-hearted chuckle.
Toby, not one to be outdone, puffed his chest out and stepped out around me, “I can burp the alphabet, want to hear it?”
“God help us,” I whispered under my breath.
But Hal threw his head back and laughed, a sound so warm and genuine it filled the whole cabin, “Boy, if you can do that, I’d be mighty impressed. But maybe after dinner?”
My boy was so happy to have found his part in the conversation that the kids ran off into the living room to sit at the coffee table, where their extreme game of Go-Fish had been paused before as the adults moved into the kitchen.
“These are for you,” Maggie said, sliding the vase into the center of the island, fluffing the bow. “Eli said you were a sucker for sunflowers.”
I glanced over at Mr. Sunshine himself with his schoolboy smile and gave him a thankful grin back. “I am, thank you so much.”
Trav moved behind me, rubbing his hand across my back as he put the root beer in the fridge while Maggie started laying out the side dishes, she insisted on bringing to dinner, and I took a deep breath, letting their easy comfort ease my fears.
How had I been so scared just a few minutes ago of these lovely people?
We all gathered around the long wooden table Travis had built with Eli last year, and I could feel the pride shining through his eyes as he took his seat at the head of it, watching us all share a meal around his hard work.
Maggie kept slipping extra helpings onto Toby’s plate, telling him he was a “growing boy who’d out skate them all someday,” while Hal teased Travis about the changes that a “woman’s touch” had on the home he built.
Somewhere between the laughter, the buttered rolls, and Emmie climbing into Maggie’s lap to whisper secrets, I realized my kids weren’t just comfortable. They were thriving.
We all were.
Toby leaned over into Hal’s bubble, looking up at him with complete trust. “Are you going to teach me to fish like Travis said? He swears you’re the best there is in the whole world.”
Hal ruffled his hair, “You better believe it, buddy. As soon as the ice melts, we’ll all head out.”
Toby whooped loudly in excitement, but as I looked at Hal sitting across from me at the table, the emotions on his face were shining so brightly, it threatened to make the ooey gooey stuff in my chest even worse.
Pride.
Excitement.
Love.
“Can I call you Grandma too?” Emmie asked Maggie, cheeks pink with excitement. “Just sometimes, if you don’t want it all the time. My Grandma Blake says I say her name too much sometimes.”
My throat closed as Maggie chuckled, hugging Emmie tighter.
“You’re Grandma is a saint for having you both all to herself for the last few years without reinforcements!
” Maggie said and then winked at me over my daughter’s shoulder, “But we’re here now to help.
And you can call us whatever your little hearts desire. ”
My kids had never known this kind of unconditional acceptance from people that weren’t related to them by blood.
Hell, even the other half of their bloodline had never even accepted them like this.
We belonged here.
Later that night, the kids were curled up in a fort made of quilts and sheets in their new play area in the loft, bellies full, eyes heavy and laughter echoing down through the railing as the evening wound down.
Eli ducked upstairs a couple of different times to check on them as Travis cleaned up the last of the dishes that he and his dad had hand-washed together.
Maggie slid onto the couch beside me with two steaming mugs of tea, as Hal lowered himself down into the chair opposite us, his big hands folded over his knee, watching me with a kind of quiet patience that made me fidget.
“You did good with those two,” Maggie said, her chin dipping to the railing where Emmie and Toby’s squeals of laughter sang out. “They’re polite, funny, full of spirit.” She patted my knee, “That’s no accident, sweetheart.”
Heat rose to my cheeks, compliments had always been hard to take, especially about my kids. Thanks to always feeling like I wasn’t enough for them. “They’re a handful most days,” I admitted softly, “But they’re good at their core.”
Hal chuckled, the sound low and rumbling. “The best kind of handful there is.” His gaze shifted, sharp but not unkind. “Travis and Eli—they don’t hand their hearts over easily. But I’ve never seen them look at anyone the way they look at you. Or at those kids.”
Maggie reached for my hand, squeezing it, “We want you to know that we don’t care what it looks like from the outside; two men, one woman. What we see is love. And that’s all that matters.”
Her words cracked something open in my chest. For a long moment I couldn’t speak.
I stared at the fire instead, blinking against the sting in my eyes.
“I don’t—I don’t know what I’m doing,” I whispered, the truth slipping out before I could catch it.
“I feel like I’m living someone else’s fairy tale, and at any moment I’m going to wake up and they’re going to snatch it all back from me.
” I sighed, taking a deep breath, “This home. These men. It’s too good to be true.
And I’m scared I’m going to mess something up for the kids now that they’re involved. ”
“Every mother thinks she’s going to screw her kids up.” Maggie chuckled affectionately. “Every stern word, or lost patience, small injury, or failing grade.” She sighed, “The fact that you’re worried about it means you’re doing better than most.”
Hal leaned forward, his eyes warm and certain.
“We’re glad they’ve got you, Frankie. We never in a million years imagined this layout for Travis’s life, and hell, Eli’s been a second kid to us for decades and we wouldn’t have guessed this for him either.
But now that we’re here, and we see it, we’re so damn happy for them.
Don’t let doubt steal what’s right in front of you. ”
It wasn’t approval I heard in his tone, which was what I had been hoping for out of the evening. It was acceptance.
And for the first time in a long, long while, I let myself believe maybe—just maybe—we’d found a place to belong.