ELI, LIAM & MAXINE
Checking the nursery for the last time, Eli tiptoed outside, carefully closing the door behind him. It was almost four o’clock in the morning, so there was no point in joining Liam and Maxine to bed, risking waking them up, when they had only about two hours of sleep, so he headed to one of the guest rooms.
Here, the bed was made for the night, just in case, so Eli slipped under the covers, waiting for sleep to take him. However, the man’s mind took a trip down memory lane, the first one in fourteen years, the time passed since he left England coming to the States, a lonely, scared sixteen-year-old.
Poldark Manor, his family's home for generations, was an impressive, splendidly decorated edifice, surrounded by acres of perfectly manicured lawns and an immense park, full of huge bushes masterfully sculpted into all kinds of shapes. Perfectly straight, smooth paved alleys connected different sections of the park, turning every walk into a very pleasant experience for the proud owners and their snobbish guests alike.
But for little Eli, the elegant residence was nothing more than a prison, where his free, nature-loving spirit, his innate kindness and generosity were crushed by his parents’ coldness and heartlessness. The kid seized every opportunity he got to evade that lifeless mausoleum, spending quality time at Gardens’ Hill, a much smaller, but charming property, belonging to his grandfather, Nigel Poldark, Esq.
There, Eli was welcomed with open arms by the distinguished gentleman and his equally refined lifelong friend, Desmond Lantham. The two men spoiled the boy rotten, showering him in presents and affection, got engaged in lively conversations with him, stimulating his imagination, enriching his knowledge and encouraging his creativity.
Nigel Poldark himself was a visionary in the business field, taking the barely surviving family’s coal mining company and turning it almost overnight into a mega-successful, billion-dollar international corporation. However, the man got tired of the constant friction between him and his only son, Eldon, Eli’s father, and eventually resigned.
His successor’s victory and joy was short-lived, as Nigel kept his shares instead of giving them to him. From then on, the young Poldark referred to his own father as “the ghost”, putting into the word all the resentment, contempt and hate he felt for the one who gave him life. The man even went as far as speaking that way in front of his guests.
Meanwhile, Nigel declined all the invitations to parties, fundraisings and other social gatherings that attracted attention of the public and media. He took part, however, at each and every charity event organized by the LGBTQ community, making substantial donations. Other than that, and the annual interview for the most prestigious financial magazine in the world, he kept a very low profile.
When he was fourteen, Eli came out as bi to the two gentlemen, who hugged him warmly, wishing him a lot of happiness and love. However, shortly after, the long, black shadow of death descended over the little family, taking Desmond away, and, with him, Nigel Poldark’s will to live. It was also when a confused, grieving Eli came out to his parents, and everything went downhill at warp speed.
“Hello, sunshine, what are you doing here, alone, when you have not one, but two partners willing to satisfy your wildest fantasies?” Liam’s mischievous voice woke the man up, confusion all over his face.
“Good morning, my love,” he spoke in a worried tone. “What happened? Why aren’t you at work? Is something wrong with the boys? Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?” Eli jumped from the bed, in an obvious state of agitation, heading to the twins’ room.”
“Baby, calm down, nothing’s wrong,” Liam put his arms around the older man, stopping him, “it’s Saturday, no work for me or Maxi, that’s all. Weekend, time for fun and naughty stuff.”
“Yes, of course, how could I forget,” Elias let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “There is still a chance for an old man to find a piece of toast and a cup of tea for breakfast? Forget about the tea, I’ll brew a fresh pot, but I’d kill for a piece of buttered toast right now.”
“One thing is certain,” Liam shook his head, examining his man’s face,”you are not your usual self this morning. When did we ever have tea for breakfast?”
“Yes, you are right,” Eli sighed again, “I haven’t had a single cup of tea in fourteen years, since the day I set foot on American soil. The last one was in the company of my grandfather, one day prior to my departure. Earl Grey, his and Mister Desmond’s favorite.”
“Did someone say tea? I'm in the mood for some,” Maxine appeared in the kitchen, looking fresh as always. “The boys filled their tummies, and now they are sleeping like royalty. I don’t know how you guys manage to get them into their diapers without any protest from them, because they get restless with me.”
“Oh, it’s a father-son thing, you can ask Eli, too,” Liam grinned, keeping an eye on his lover, who started to prepare breakfast. “Us guys understand each other, we have this special, secret language.”
“Here, I found a sealed box full of teabags,” the older man replied, turning to face his lovers. “Not exactly Earl Grey, but it will do,” he continued, filling the kettle with water and putting it on the stove to boil.
Soon, everything was ready, tea included, and the three lovers sat around the table, enjoying their breakfast. It was a typical Saturday morning in their little, atypical family, but at the same time, it wasn’t. Eli, who usually led the conversation, telling jokes and laughing, a deep, sexy sound that sent tingles of pleasure through Liam and Maxine’s body, was unusually quiet that morning.
From the corner of his eye, the redhead studied him, his chest constricting in pain at the sight of the lost expression on his life partner’s face. That expression and lack of focus were painfully familiar to Liam, he had experienced them a lot during the period following the horrific attack he submitted to, in exchange for Christine's life.
“A penny for your thoughts,” Eli’s gentle voice made the redhead flinch. “Are you still here, with us, or are you already planning the afternoon?” the man winked.
“Sorry, I didn’t pay attention to what the two of you were plotting behind my back,” Liam flashed a cheeky grin in his lovers’ direction.”
“You are wrong, my dear,” Maxine purred, “I’m always facing you, only Elias does things behind your back. We were talking about our favorite places, back when we were children, and I said yours must have been the mansion in Connecticut.”
“You know me so well,” Liam brightly smiled. “Yes, that was my safe haven, my perfect place, where everything was peace, love and harmony. What about you,” he turned to Eli, “what was your favorite place back when you were a child?”
“The cliffs, of course,” the man answered, a dreamy look on his face, “and the Gardens’ Hill. That place was a garden of Eden in its own right, with daffodils, lilies, lilies-of-the-valley, gardenias andthousands of other flowers growing in their natural state. They covered every inch of the hill, up to the house’s entrance, almost invading it, as Mister Desmond used to joke. It was marvelous.”
“I never heard you speaking like that,” Maxine whispered, looking at Eli’s transfixed, illumined, but also melancholic expression. Where did you grow up?”
“Cornwall, England, one of the most beautiful places on earth, if it wasn’t for the snakes and other poisonous creatures populating it,” the answer came, then the man fell silent.
Soon, the three finished breakfast, and, after helping his lovers with the dishes, Eli went upstairs to take a shower. For no particular reason, he felt very dirty and used that morning, and wanted to get rid of that sensation, to be clean when Liam or Maxine would want to touch or kiss him.
Meanwhile, the redhead and the beautiful, charming blonde started to heatedly kiss and touch each other hungrily. They were about to go upstairs and set the mood for when Eli was going to join them, when the sound of the doorbell stopped them at the base of the stairs. Liam went to open the door, coming face to face with a man and a woman, both of them in their mid to late fifties.
”Hello, may I ask who you are looking for? I’m...” the redhead gave them a friendly smile, only to be dismissed by the man.
“We’re here to speak with Eli Poldark, the master of the house,” he spoke in a colder than ice voice. Go and tell him we are here.”
“Please, come inside,” Liam gestured to the entry hall, “make yourself comfortable until I announce him, although there must be a mistake, Eli’s last name is Davenport. Can I get you anything, a glass of water, a cup of tea...”
“No! Not in my house, not the things I buy using the money I earn!” The harshness in his lover’s voice made Liam flinch, and the other man noticed immediately. “Sorry, my love, those words were not intended for you.” Completely ignoring the pair, he hugged the redhead. “Our sons woke up, Maxi’s with them, you should go there, too. I’ll join you in a minute.”
“I’m going to stay, we can go together afterwards,” Liam replied, casting a sidelong glance in the two uninvited guests’ direction.
“As you wish, my prince,” Eli smiled, then, turning to the man and the woman, he smiled coldly. “Good day and goodbye, wrong address, get out of our house.”
“We came to apologize for everything that happened fifteen years ago and to offer our support in case you want to pursue a legal action against the one who hurt you,” the man spoke, avoiding Eli’s gaze.
“I don’t understand what you are talking about, nothing happened then, you made it clear that everything was the invention of a crazy fifteen-year-old, who spent a year in an asylum because he came out as bisexual to his parents. No one hurt me, so I don’t see the point in...”
“I’m sorry for not listening to you back then,” the man cut Eli short, in a neutral voice. “I thought Jordan Banks was a man of his word, that he had integrity, but I was bitterly wrong. He attacked you back then and recently we discovered that huge amounts of money disappeared from the company’s accounts. The bloody snake left us almost penniless.”
Suddenly, his parents’ plan unveiled in front of Eli’s eyes in all its ugliness: they wanted to take revenge on that man for leading them to financial ruin, by using him as a pawn. There was going to be no support, just him, in court, under fire, forced to relive that horrible experience over and over again, while they will blackmail the one who destroyed his life.
And, if he would agree to pay, they would testify against their own son, ruining his credibility, calling him names, bringing the medical record from that goddamn asylum as proof of his insanity. The Poldarks didn’t come to New York to reconcile, they did it to bury him once and for all, but he wasn’t the vulnerable, scared fifteen-year-old any more.
“I’ll get back to England and pursue a legal act against that bastard,” Eli calmly spoke, discreetly signaling to Liam to turn on the phone and record the conversation, “but before that, I want to make something clear: what should I accuse him of? What did he do to me?”
“He...” Eldon Poldark cleared his throat, looking at his son, “he hurt you badly, did horrible things to you.”
“A lot of people treated me horribly in different degrees in the past,” Elias shrugged, “but no one got sued for that. I want you to say why Jordan Banks is different, what did he do to me that was so bad?”
The older man looked at his son, realizing it was going to be harder than he thought. But then again, if the brat managed to twist that bastard’s arm, making him give back the money he stole, it was worth it. “He raped you,” his answer came in a flat voice.
In a blink of an eye, Liam, who witnessed the confrontation without saying a word, was by Eli’s side, starting to lightly massage his shoulders, in an effort to relieve the tension and pain his lover must have felt. Maxine, who also came downstairs, filled a mug with tea, putting it between her life partner’s hands.
“Thank you, my beloved ones,” he gratefully smiled, then turned his attention to Eldon Poldark. “Would you care to tell these two wonderful souls what you did when I told you about the rape? And where did it happen, and on what occasion?”
“Once a crazy, spoiled brat, always a crazy, spoiled brat,” the man thought, but again, he had no choice. Maybe if he played the repentance card, his twisted-minded, disgusting son will let him off the hook. “In my office, at Poldark Manor, on Christmas Eve,” he said mechanically.
“Less than twenty feet away from the reception room, where you and your wife entertained a horde of snobs,” Eli spat, bitterly. “Maybe you even heard the screams, but didn’t care enough to go and check.”
“You should be ashamed of yourself, of how you treat your father,” Mrs. Poldark spoke for the first time since she came into the house. “Is this how you repay him after all the sacrifices he made for you?”
“You are right, I should feel ashamed, but I’m not,” Eli replied in the calmest possible voice. “Not when Mister Poldark here calls his own father, who also gave him so much, “the ghost.” See, I’ve learned from the best.”
Eldon saw the opportunity, seized it, and, feigning sadness, turned to his son. “Your grandfather would be very disappointed to see what’s become of you. I don’t think he would appreciate this chaotic and libertine, or better said depraved lifestyle,” the man gestured to Liam and Maxine.
“Get the hell out of my house,” Eli whispered, hands balled into fists so tight, his knuckles turned white. “To come here and insult me is one thing, but to offend the ones I love... Get out and never come back, or else I won’t be responsible for my actions!”
In the cab taking him and his wife to the hotel, Eldon was boiling in anger at the thought that his plan failed miserably. Indeed, no matter how hard it was for him to admit it, the once-scared, shaky teen became a man in the true sense of the word, one capable of taking action if someone messed with him. Rumors were that Eli had a lot of influential friends in New York City, who wouldn’t hesitate to help him with anything.
However, Eldon was not scared of those friends, or what they could do to him. Instead, he was terrified at the prospect of losing everything, Poldark Manor included, if he came back to England without Eli, as his father threatened him. The man let out a long, desperate sigh, remembering how, five years before, the ghost decided to take his place among the living.
Ever since then, all he did was order his son around, touching the man’s sensible spots. For instance, the old squire reminded Eldon that all the expenses related to Poldark Manor were made out of his pocket, cutting down the number of banquets and parties to one per month. Also, the budget for luxurious vacations suffered a drastic reduction, to the consternation of Nigel’s older grandson and granddaughter, who, together with their spouses, were the main beneficiaries of the said vacations.
On the other hand, the esquire tripled the staff wages, much to his daughter-in-law's consternation and revolt. When she confronted him, the man shrugged and said that he might even increase the payments fourfold, silencing the woman’s protests. And then, a week earlier, the blow came out of the blue, and it was more than Eldon could take.
His father appeared at the board meeting, removing him from the position of chairman. More than that, Nigel expressly instructed security to never allow his son to enter the building. However, in a private discussion they had after the board meeting, the old esquire told Eldon he would change his mind, if his favorite grandson Eli comes back to England, convinced by his parents.
It was mission impossible, but it was worth the effort, because otherwise Nigel’s son risked to lose what little he still had, Poldark Manor included. And then, the threat became dangerously tangible, because the man his father became wasn’t going to accept any excuses from Eldon. Thinking about the moment when he would have to face the old esquire, his only child already was feeling chills down his spine.
After his parents left, Eli plopped down on the couch, head in his hands, flanked by Liam and Maxine, who were waiting patiently for him to let all the pain out. Indeed, shortly after, tears started to flow from the man’s impossibly beautiful, blue-green eyes, rolling down his cheek. He stayed like that for more than an hour, no sound escaping from his lips, no sob wrecking his body.
Maxine and Liam never left Eli’s side, rubbing circles on his back, soothing his aching heart, taking away most of the pain he deeply, carefully buried inside his soul. Thinking back at their first sexual experiences as a threesome, Maxine remembered how Eli insisted that Liam be the one who tops, saying that it would help him to put everything behind him, healing faster.
“Thank you, my beloved ones,” the deep, rugged voice of her lover put a stop to her thoughts , “I’m much better now, although I”m not ready to talk about that. I might never be, but that doesn’t mean that it would affect what we have. Liam, could you convince Martin Cornelius to lend us the jet?”
“Let me guess: we are going to England to visit your grandfather, am I right?” The redhead was excited like a little kid, making Eli smile.
“Yes, babe, we will take a trip to the place I was born, I will show you the cliffs and...butGardens’ Hill probably doesn’t exist anymore, grandfather’s son hated that place.”
“Don’t talk like that,” Maxine replied while she was packing spare bottles, diapers and a container of formula, “I have the feeling that the old gentleman is still alive and kicking.”
“The last time I spoke to him over the phone was nine years ago, on my twenty-first birthday. He congratulated me and said I was a man, that I won’t need him anymore. I respected his wish and didn’t contact him ever since.”
Four hours later they were all comfortably seated, and the plane safely took off. To Liam’s immense joy, Christine decided to join them, bringing little Liam Fabian, who was eighteen months old, with them. He was a chatty, bubbly child, most to his godfather’s delight, so, between the little boy and equally talkative Carrie Louise, had his hands full for the most of the flight’s duration.
Eli, on the other hand, slept almost the entire time, much to Christine’s initial worry. She shared a special bond with the man, forged under the dire circumstances of Liam’s rescue operation. The woman couldn’t forget how he carried her in his arms for more than a mile, and how he risked his freedom to hijack a car, so she could get to New York General Hospital.
However, Maxine told Christine about the events in the morning, and she understood Eli’s need for sleep. From time to time, the young woman checked on the one she had a deep, sisterly affection for, sighing relieved that he didn’t appear to have nightmares. Finally, after five hours of sleep, he woke up, looking fresh and relaxed. The plane landed at Newquay airport, two limos belonging to Bloom Enterprises already waiting for them.
All the way to Gardens’ Hill, Elias prayed, eyes closed, that the property would be as he remembered it, that Eldon”s greedy hands hadn’t turned it into something horrible and cold, the way he did with Poldark Manor. And then, he heard Carrie-Louise speaking, or better said, shouting.
“Mom, Li, El, look at all these beautiful flowers! There are so many of them, just like in Connecticut!”
“This is even more beautiful than in Connecticut,” Liam’s voice was thick with emotion at the sight before him.
“It was my safe haven, with my two guardian angels in it,” Eli’s voice was melancholic and evocative.
“Well, let’s say hello to the one who’s still on earth, watching you from afar,” Maxine took one of the fabric, basket-shaped cribs and got out of the car. Liam imitated her, while Eli took Carrie-Louise.
“Oh, Zeus, isn’t that...welcome home, young master, oh, dear, how handsome you are!” Porter, his grandfather’s butler, who just came out of the house, exclaimed, covering his mouth with one hand. “I’m going inside, to announce you.”
“Just tell him he has guests, please,” Eli said, in a voice thick with emotion. “How’s my grandfather’s health, Porter?”
“He’s strong as an ox,” the butler waved, disappearing in one of the rooms, only to return shortly after. “The old master said you can come in. Also, I’ll stay as a witness of your discussion. He thinks that...” Porter winked in a conspirative way, making Liam grin.
“What are they waiting for? A special invitation?” a grumpy voice spoke from inside the salon.
“Hello, grandfather, long time no see,” Eli spoke in his deep, rich voice. “I want you to meet my soulmates, Maxine and Liam, the little miss is Carrie-Louise, our eldest, and those are Desmond and Nigel.”
“If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up anytime soon,” the old squire said, tears streaming down his face “Come closer, my children, I want to hug you all!”
Happy to oblige, Maxine and Liam took seats near Nigel Poldark, so he could see the babies better, while Carrie-Louise climbed on his lap. Still standing, Eli looked at them — his past, present and future gathered in the same room— an image of happiness and love. His life was perfect.