23. Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Oak
I woke up halfway when I heard the kids enter the house. They couldn’t be quiet for the life of them. I knew Law would’ve told them to stay quiet, but what can you do, they were kids. The dog claws tip-tapping on the hardwood floor behind the bedroom door made me smile sleepily. Ranger was a great dog and he had clearly clocked that I was in the house.
I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake up until gentle fingers moved some of my hair off my face.
“Baby? You have about half an hour before the inquisition arrives,” Law murmured.
“Mmm-huh?” I squinted at him.
The pleasant ache in my ass reminded me what we’d been up to after we got here earlier.
“My brother and your uncle are coming with pizzas.”
I began to hum Tris’ pizza song, then rolled onto my back and stretched. “Good. Pizza.”
Law looked amused as fuck. “Baby, I think you might be missing the point here.”
I squinted at him again, willing my brain to start thinking about anything but my post-coital relaxation and pizza. My bestie and my uncle were coming over to the house with food and—oh shit.
“Theeeere it is.” Law grinned. “So go take a shower if you need one. Borrow any clothes you want. Half an hour. I’ll keep the kids and Ranger out of here.”
“Okay.” I grabbed his arm. “Kiss?”
Smiling like I was something special, he leaned in and kissed me properly, possessively. Then he reached a hand to cup my ass with and squeezed. I might’ve whimpered.
He left the room and I considered the shower. I wasn’t dirty, but I kind of was. It would be easier to not be a blushing mess in front of Uncle Teague and Charlie if I didn’t have the remnants of Law’s cum dripping out of me. Besides, I’d slept hard and felt like a shower would help me wake up properly.
I dragged myself into the bathroom and got cleaner, then ran Law’s comb through my hair. It was starting to curl now, too, and I really needed to consider if I was going to get it cut soon. I’d bleached it once since arriving in Fairville and the roots were showing. I wondered if the blond was really me these days.
Maybe I should ask the kids if I should go for more fun colors.
I grabbed a pair of threadbare sweats and rolled them up a little. I would look like a little kid in Law’s clothes, so there was no saving this mess. Then I went back to grab his blue flannel from the bathroom and decided it was fine to wear over one of his T-shirts. I was pretty sure, given how clean it still was, he’d only worn it for one day.
I re-rolled the sleeves a bit, then gathered the bottom of the flannel and tied the halves into a knot. All I needed were some daisy dukes and I’d look perfect. They would definitely clash with the Grams-made wool socks I was sporting. Sexy, I know. But maybe in the summer?
Taking in a deep breath, I stepped out of the room.
I could hear the kids chattering somewhere, and then the clicking of claws came around the corner and Ranger wagged his tail at me.
“Hey, good boy,” I told him, then knelt to give him some love. He pushed into my arms and put his head over my shoulder, then gave me a weary sigh. “Aww, are the kids a bit too excited?”
Tristan was singing his pizza song in the kitchen. I kept petting Ranger for a moment longer, then got to my feet.
I rounded the corner to the kitchen and Tristan was the first to notice me. He practically leapt off the stool he’d been sitting on, and I caught him with an “oomph.”
“Oak, you’re here!” he yelled right into my ear.
“Inside voice,” Law and I said at the same time.
“Sorry,” Tris whispered, still squeezing me hard.
“Did you think your dad was lying to you when he said I was napping?”
I carried Tris back to his stool and sat him down to finish his homework.
“No, but I got really excited to see you,” he said in the “duh” voice only five-year-olds could master.
“Good. I’m excited to see you too.” I ruffled his hair, then went to Law who was doing something on the counter near the fridge. “What are you up to?”
Law smiled at me, then did a double take at my clothes and shook his head fondly. “Lunches for tomorrow. I’ll add some pizza if there’s any left.”
“Knowing Charlie, there will be.” I wanted to put my hands on Law so bad, but I couldn’t. I leaned to his side though, just to get some of his warmth, and heard the way he took in a deep breath.
“Can you go check on the girls?” Law asked, and the look in his eyes told me he was struggling with the no-touching too.
“Are you sending me away?” I whispered.
“Go.” The low tone made me clench in a way that made the tenderness in my ass flare, and I bit back a groan.
I turned to walk away and heard Tristan ask his dad something about the homework.
The girls were doing theirs upstairs. Well, Marlie had finished and Ranger had gone back to her, so she was reading yet another book to the dog.
“Hi, Oak!” she said brightly.
“Hey, Uncles should be here soon, so prepare to go downstairs,” I told her gently.
“Okay, we just have three pages left!”
I went back to Harper’s room and knocked on the doorframe. She smiled widely when she saw me.
“Food soon?” She made an educated guess.
“Yeah, Uncles will be here in a bit. How’s the homework?”
“Almost done. I just had math and social studies today.”
“Can I come into your room?” I asked, knowing that she was in a delicate age.
“Yeah.” She beamed. “Thanks for asking.”
I stepped in and saw the posters she’d put up on her walls. They were kind of a mix between cool animals and some fairytale-like scenes.
“I like this one,” I pointed at the one above her bed.
It had a forest with mist hanging around, and it could’ve been spooky, but the cute critters sprinkled everywhere made it cute more than anything.
“I wanted it because of the toadstools. They remind me of the one you made me for Christmas.” She pointed at my little crocheted figure that sat on the shelf with some of her important things.
“It’s very pretty,” I managed to say, moved as fuck.
Harper, being the intuitive, shrewd person just like her Uncle Charlie, got up from her desk and came to hug me hard.
“I love you, Oak,” she whispered. “I’m so glad you’re here and not in Utah.”
Fuck, there went the waterworks. I squeezed her back, then wiped at my eyes.
“I love you too, Harper.” And I was so damn glad I was here, too. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”
Downstairs, the doorbell rang, and Tristan screamed.
“That’ll be the uncles. I’m gonna finish this and come downstairs.” She gestured at her desk.
“You’re such a smart girl. I really admire you,” I told her honestly. “Keep doing your thing, Harper, and remember there’s always adults around if you need one.”
She blushed lightly and nodded, then went back to her books.
I left the room, only to be almost run over by Marlie and Ranger.
“Sorry, Oak!” she called out, being louder than normal in her enthusiasm.
Ranger barked as if in response, and I chuckled as I walked to the top of the stairs. Luckily Marlie was smart enough to slow down and take the steps carefully, so I didn’t need to remind her.
As soon as I got halfway down the stairs, I saw Charlie and Uncle Teague getting rid of the last of their winter gear. Uncle Teague carried a massive pile of pizza boxes into the kitchen and didn’t notice me.
Charlie, however, did. He tilted his head as he took in my appearance and rolled his eyes. For a split second I worried as I walked down the rest of the stairs to get to him.
He was wearing a red flannel I knew had belonged to my uncle.
“Totally stole my trick, you twink,” he quietly mock-hissed at me when he came to give me a hug.
In that moment, I knew we would be okay. “I love you too, Charlie.”
He pulled back just enough to look me in the eyes, searching something without asking.
Then he said, “If you tell me everything is fine, that this is completely mutual and the potential power imbalance isn’t an issue, then I’ll believe you.”
“You know your brother and you know me. Everything’s better than fine, Charlie,” I promised.
“Good, then—”
“Uncle Charlie!” Harper squealed from the stairs, then did an odd, controlled dash down because running wasn’t allowed.
I made room for her and let the duo hug. I took in a deep breath and hoped my own uncle would be as fine about it as Charlie had been.
We ended up eating in the dining room around the big table. Harper found an extra chair to fit us all around it, and then we gorged ourselves with pizza.
About halfway into the excited babble about their weeks and how Ranger’s training was going and how Harper had gotten an A on her math quiz, Tristan suddenly looked at me.
“Why’re you wearing Daddy’s shirt?”
I almost inhaled a piece of pepperoni and coughed, then drank a bit of water.
“I took a shower after my nap and I was cold,” I said once I’d recovered a little. “It was right there and it’s comfy.”
Law looked amused and fond at the exchange, so I figured I’d managed to say the right thing.
“Oh, okay,” Tristan said easily. Then he squinted at me. “Daddy said you had a bad day. Do you feel better now?”
“Yeah, buddy, I feel much better.”
“Yeah.” He thought for a second. “I think sometimes I feel better after a nap, too.”
“But don’t tell Daddy you said that?” I deadpanned, making everyone around the table, including Tristan, laugh.
Once most of the pizzas were gone—there was definitely enough left for the kids’ lunches and some for adults as well—the kids were allowed some time with their electronics.
Mostly, that meant Harper would be using an old laptop to watch some YouTube videos Law approved of, Tristan played a game on his tablet, and Marlie and Ranger watched some PAW Patrol on her tablet—because “Ranger hasn’t seen it before.”
I’d been told that PAW Patrol was one of her comfort shows that had stuck with her. Now that she had Ranger for an excuse, she felt even safer watching a “little kids’ show” when she needed to wind down after a long day.
Since that meant they were all upstairs, Law made us adults coffees while I finished cleaning up after the pizza party, and then Uncle Teague finally gave me the look I’d expected.
“Can I talk to you in private?” he asked me in his kind, patient voice.
“Yeah, of course.”
“You can use my room,” Law said immediately.
I widened my eyes at him, knowing that we hadn’t exactly changed the sheets of that bed.
“Or maybe we’ll just go into the living room and keep our voices down?” Uncle Teague looked mildly disturbed, having caught my expression.
“Meanwhile, I’m gonna chat with my big brother,” Charlie said brightly.
I followed Uncle Teague into the living room and we sat on the couch, close enough to each other that we could speak quietly.
“So.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Mhmm,” I added.
He took a deep breath, released it, and then looked at me. “So as the amazing uncle I am, I’ve got to ask you this: is this a thing between two consenting adults without any power imbalance I gotta worry about?”
I reached to take his hand and squeezed it. “It is. He makes me happy and I feel safe with him. So, so damn safe, Uncle Teague.”
He squeezed back and nodded. “Okay. That’s all I need to know.” He glanced toward the kitchen where Charlie was likely doing his best to grill his brother without much success because Charlie wasn’t that sort of person.
“Are you going to give him the shovel talk?” I grinned.
Uncle Teague snorted. “Nah. I’m gonna ask him the same question I asked you. But I don’t see him giving me a different answer.” Then he reached over to gather me in a hug. “I’m happy if you’re happy, Oak. You deserve all the good things, eh?”
“Thanks, Uncle Teague,” I replied, sounding only a little more choked up than I would’ve wanted to.
He let go and walked into the kitchen while I gathered myself. Soon, Charlie appeared and came to sit with me. He pulled me under his arm, and we sat in silence for a while.
“Seriously though.” He tugged at the rolled-up sleeve of my flannel. “Very cute.”
“Thanks.”
Smirking slightly, he asked, “So, when are you telling your grandparents?”
I groaned.
It turned out that we didn’t need to tell Nic and Dana, because Dana had guessed and she didn’t keep anything from her wife. Then Aunt Regan came to make a late delivery of some baked goods to the inn one morning, took one look at Law and I sitting at a breakfast table together, and their eyes widened comically.
“No!” they exclaimed.
“What?” I asked, all innocent.
They abandoned the pastry boxes for the time being and came to stand next to the table. “You two? Who knows about this?”
Law reached for my hand as if in support and shrugged. “Only ones who don’t are the kids and Sean and Mary.”
Aunt Regan’s gaze flicked toward the kitchen and their eyes narrowed. “Huh.”
“Are you opposed?” I asked, knowing they were distracted with the knowledge that Nic and Dana had known and not told them.
“What?”
“Is this a problem for you?” I spelled the question out carefully.
They blinked at me a couple of times, then glanced at my hand in Law’s, and shook their head. “No, of course not. You’re both adults. It’s not about me. I wouldn’t like anyone else’s input on my relationship.” Again, their eyes flicked toward the kitchen and then back to us.
“Well, that’s good,” Law murmured.
They snapped out of whatever mood they’d fallen into and went back to sorting the pastries.
That was that. Everyone knew. Except my grandparents and the kids. And Law was going to call Caitlyn that night just to bring her up to speed because she’d been too busy in the couple of days since the pizza party.
“It’ll be fine,” he told me, squeezing my fingers.
“Yeah, I know.” I didn’t know. I hoped .
I was sure Caitlyn would be fine with us being an item. It was Grams and Gramps I worried about. I had just come into their lives and now I was causing waves. I was pretty sure their generation wouldn’t be okay with the age gap, even if they were fine with the gay or, like it was in our case, gay and bi.
Then there were the kids. We couldn’t rush this, of course. I loved them a lot, but I knew Law was trying to keep things balanced—which I understood—for a while. He hadn’t appreciated it when I’d told him he was lulling them into a false sense of security and calm before dropping the bomb.
I thought they’d be okay, in the end. There would be questions, I was sure, but also… I loved them and they loved me.
Maybe that was why I became careless. The belief that everything would be fine and the fact that the dining room was empty from anyone but us and Aunt Regan.
I got out of my seat and leaned in to kiss Law before going to start my workday. Just as our lips met in the sweetest of ways, there was a loud gasp from the dining room doorway.
I whipped my head up. Crap. “Uh, Grams?”