Chapter Four #2
Grace continued, her voice thick with tears. “When I confronted them, they admitted they’ve been sharing women all along. Why would they do that? How did I not know?”
His mother had often been willfully blind to her younger sons’ more colorful exploits, chalking up their antics to “boys being boys” rather than acknowledging the depth of their wild streaks.
“What did we do wrong?” she wailed on.
Because she didn’t know what to do and wanted him to fix the problem.
What a clusterfuck.
“Mom, I know you’re upset, and that you don’t approve. But Jack and Connor are grown men. They can make their own choices, even if we don’t agree with them.”
“But what they’re doing…it’s sinful. Terrible. It goes against everything we raised them to believe. Against God’s plan.” She was crying harder now.
“I know that’s how you feel. But they aren’t fifteen anymore.”
“That makes it worse! This isn’t just teenage wildness. And I can’t…” Another sob, this one louder. “You have to help me.”
“I don’t know what you want me to—”
“Come home. Please… You have to talk to them. I can’t make them see reason, but they respect you. You can make them understand.”
No, he couldn’t. He had zero moral high ground here.
Seth’s stomach twisted. The hypocrisy was glaringly obvious… Here he was, fresh from making love to his fiancée bareback before he watched another man—his partner in her pleasure—do the same. And his mother was asking him to lecture his brothers about the sanctity of traditional relationships?
“I…” Seth swallowed hard. What could he say?
“I know you’re busy. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’m at my wit’s end. Carl doesn’t know what to say to them either.”
Seth wasn’t surprised, and it was probably for the best that his mom’s future husband wasn’t wading into family drama. The new man in their mother’s life wasn’t going to have any sway with the twins.
If anyone had any prayer of smoothing over this situation, it was him.
His sigh was full of resignation. “All right. I’ll come home for a few days. But don’t expect miracles. Jack and Connor are—”
“Really? Thank you,” she gasped out as if she hadn’t heard his warning at all.
This was going to be a shit show. “I’ll be there soon.”
“I really am grateful. You’ve always been such a godsend.” Grace’s voice brightened slightly.
She wouldn’t say that if she knew the truth.
“Any chance Heavenly can come with you? You two have been together for months. I’d love to finally meet the woman who captured my son’s heart and made him start living again.”
Seth froze. Bring Heavenly to New York? To meet his devoutly Catholic mother who was currently having a meltdown over his brothers’ sexual preferences? When he himself was doing what she would undoubtedly consider worse?
Yes, he’d planned to bring Heavenly to the wedding, but that would be different—Grace would be distracted, and Beck would just be a friend who happened to be in town.
“She can’t. She just started her final year of nursing school. It’s really intense, and she can’t afford to miss classes.”
He wasn’t lying…exactly. Heavenly’s schedule was demanding. But the real reason was far more complicated. How could he explain that bringing Heavenly meant excluding Beck? That the three of them were a unit, bound together by more than just convenience or sex, but a love they’d chosen to share?
And what would happen when his mother started asking about his future with Heavenly? About settling down? A wedding, grandchildren, and a picket fence? Questions he wasn’t ready to answer because he didn’t know how to explain that any children Heavenly had would belong to Beck as much as him.
“I’m disappointed, but I understand,” Grace murmured. “School is important. Maybe it’s not the best time anyway. The twins’ behavior is…so embarrassing. I don’t want her getting the wrong idea about our family. But I’ll be meeting her at my wedding next month, right?”
“Yes,” Seth promised. “Mom, about Jack and Connor… I’ll talk to them, but I can’t force them to change. You know that, right?”
“I know. I just… I don’t understand. Did I fail them that badly? I tried to be a good influence, but—”
“You didn’t fail them.” Seth’s voice was firm. “People’s sexuality… They like what they like. It isn’t really a choice. Maybe…that’s just who they are.”
The words burned his throat. He was talking about himself as much as his brothers.
“No. They didn’t have to do this. They chose to,” Grace insisted. “And it needs to stop. I know you’ll help. When can you be here?”
“Probably Tuesday. I just need to…” Explain to Heavenly and Beck why I’m running across the country in the middle of her fertile window. “Rearrange my schedule. I’ll send you my flight information once I’ve made my reservations.”
They talked for a few more minutes, Grace gradually calming. By the time they hung up, she still sounded shaken, but more like herself.
Seth darkened his phone and sat on the stairs, his head spinning. What the hell was he supposed to tell Jack and Connor? That sharing women was wrong? That they each needed to find a nice girl and settle down?
The hypocrisy would be laughable if it weren’t so fucking tragic.
The truth was, Seth understood his brothers. The high of sharing a woman was undeniable. And the way some people fit together didn’t always match societal expectations… It just was. He couldn’t condemn them for following their hearts when he’d done the same.
But he also understood his mother’s shock, her horror at discovering her sons engaged in behavior she saw as immoral.
Grace Cooper was a good woman, but she was also a product of her generation and her faith.
The idea that love could exist outside the narrow confines of one man, one woman, one marriage was simply incomprehensible to her.
Seth cursed. His lies were piling up, creating a house of cards he feared would come crashing down. He could only deflect for so long before he’d have to tell his mother the truth. Somehow.
And speaking of deflecting… He had to convince Beck and Heavenly that this trip didn’t mean he was backsliding after they’d just committed to their future. He feared the fragile peace they’d negotiated was about to be tested.
Beck wouldn’t be happy. And Seth couldn’t blame him. If their positions were reversed, he’d be furious.
He was also unsettled by the thought of Beck and Heavenly alone while he was gone.
Not because he was jealous, but because he wanted to be with them, a part of whatever happened next.
What if Heavenly conceived while he was gone?
What if Beck got her pregnant while Seth was three thousand miles away?
The irony wasn’t lost on him. He’d spent months terrified of getting Heavenly pregnant, and now he was worried about missing his chance to knock her up.
He sounded like he needed a shrink. Or a lobotomy.
Seth stood slowly, every muscle suddenly feeling like it weighed a thousand pounds.
Somehow, he had to work through his fears about fatherhood while navigating the complex web of family expectations, religious beliefs, and social conventions.
That’s not a tall order at all, he thought sarcastically.
As he climbed the last of the stairs toward their bedroom, Seth feared that this trip to New York was a disaster waiting to happen.
He paused outside the door and took a deep breath. Inside, Heavenly and Beck still slept peacefully. He wanted to join them…but somewhere in the back of his mind, Liam’s cryptic warning echoed: Sometimes the things we think we’ve resolved have a way of resurfacing…
Seth wasn’t sure what his friend meant, but as he quietly slipped inside the bedroom, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was about to find out.