Chapter Seventeen
Wes
Wes put his device on speaker so he and Assa could hear the most important news they had ever received.
“Congratulations, Mr. Pashuk. The omega you met with last week has decided to move forward with the adoption.”
As always, the agency representative spoke in a crisp, professional manner. It did not deter the effusiveness of Wes’s joy.
“Thank you so much, Talon! Assa is here with me too.”
“I’m sure you both are very excited.”
“We are ecstatic,” Assa said, clapping his hands together as they sat at their dining table.
“What are our next steps?” Wes asked.
“Can you come in on Wednesday around four p.m. to fill out legal documents? We’ll have our notary available.
There will be more eventually, but this is enough to get us started.
Otherwise, you should prepare your home to welcome a new baby in about two months, assuming the omega delivers close to his due date. ”
“We’ll be there.” Wes made a note in his calendar.
“Congratulations again.”
After Wes disconnected the call, Assa leapt on top of him, straining the wooden chair as he straddled his lap. “Three days! In three days we sign paperwork, and before we know it, we’ll bring our son home.”
Wes reveled in his husband’s happiness. Assa had been melancholy these last several weeks, ever since moving Jeral to the skilled nursing side of the assisted living facility.
The adoption process had also weighed heavily on them. After the initial excitement of meeting with the agencies, the past few months had been an agonizing waiting game.
They had met with a few omegas interested in learning more about them, but until tonight, none had chosen to move forward.
The closest they’d come was a second meeting with a married alpha/omega pair who worried about providing for a sixth child, but ultimately, that couple decided they could not bear to surrender their son.
The omega who had selected them was a young man they’d met with three times.
He was single, twenty-six, and had discovered his pregnancy after using a heat service.
Prior to sharing the omega’s heat, the alpha had signed away his parental rights to any child that might be conceived, a standard practice for those contracts.
It would be an open adoption, and Wes and Assa looked forward to having the omega birth father as part of their lives in addition to the baby.
The only thing that caused them some concern was that the man seemed very uptight.
He had mentioned wanting his child to be in a traditional family more than once.
Wes and Assa had not disclosed their polyamory.
They decided that if it did somehow get brought up, they would assure the omega that they’d be monogamous if he required it.
The next day, Wes arrived at work with a spring in his step.
He was so excited that he’d almost forgotten the mysterious meeting Dean Reynolds had put on his calendar the week before.
Everyone in the history department was invited, with the subject listed only as Mandatory Meeting to Discuss Team Updates.
The department had been buzzing since the request was sent out, but the dean remained tight-lipped, saying all would be revealed on Monday.
Wes wasn’t one for gossip, but his colleagues speculated about the possibility of getting a second administrative assistant for the department. Or perhaps they would introduce new classes. More omegas were attending university than ever before, so it made sense to offer courses catering to them.
Wes thought that idea had merit, considering how popular his lectures on the history of omega rights were with students of all genders. He only hoped Team Updates didn’t mean the department was being downsized.
Thankfully, the mood in the conference room was jovial. People crowded around the large table, chatting amiably. Dean Reynolds smiled as he spoke with an adjunct. A cake sat on the console.
Everyone arrived on time and the dean took his place at the head of the table.
“I won’t keep you in suspense,” he said, beaming.
“And I apologize for the vague nature of the meeting request, but I wanted to make sure I had everyone’s full attention.
” Guffaws cascaded throughout the room. “I’m excited to announce that the administration has agreed to another tenured position in the history department…
Our newest tenured faculty member is—” he smacked his hands on his thighs in a rapid drumroll “—Professor Wes Pashuk!”
From his place leaning against the back wall, Wes startled. He stared at the dean, and then at his colleagues, who applauded him.
“Oh my goodness,” he said. “I was not expecting this.” After making his way forward, he shook Dean Reynolds’s hand. “I am so honored.”
First the adoption, and now this. He hadn’t expected to get tenure for a few more years at least.
Wes expressed succinct words of gratitude to his coworkers before the meeting began breaking up. Most of his colleagues grabbed a slice of cake and returned to their classrooms, although a few hung back to congratulate him personally.
“The position includes a raise,” Dean Reynolds said, thumping him on the shoulder. “That should come in handy when that adoption comes through for you and your husband, eh?” He moved back without waiting for an answer, walking out with a university provost.
Wes’s boss meant well, but did he need to speak so loudly? Wes had worked hard to keep the news of his adoption journey away from prying ears. He’d told the dean, because his boss was one of his and Assa’s references, but he’d kept it private from everyone else.
Mostly because he didn’t want anything getting back to Lux.
Didn’t want anything getting back to the one person who knew he and Assa were poly, the one person who could put their adoption chances at risk.
Had Lux heard Dean Reynolds just now? He was still in the room, but at a distance away, so Wes couldn’t say for sure.
Lux approached him once they were alone. “Congratulations,” he said, tone flat.
“Uh, thanks.” Wes hitched his backpack onto his shoulder, preparing to make a beeline for the door.
“You know—” Lux stepped in front of him. “I’ve been here six months longer than you.”
Wes nodded. The thought had already crossed his mind.
There were several professors in the department who had been around longer than him.
But Wes’s classes had the highest enrollment, and he was well-liked by students.
He’d also published more journal articles than anyone else over the past four years.
He attempted to be diplomatic. “Yes, it probably could have gone to either of us.”
Lux huffed. “What a charmed life you lead, Professor Pashuk. Everything just falls right into place for you.”
“I am v-very lucky.”
“Mm.” Lux stuffed his hands in his pockets. “You have certainly been very lucky. Congratulations.”
With that, he turned and left the room. Wes stared after him, hoping he’d imagined the menace in his words.
***
Wes told Assa about the tenure, but not about the disturbing conversation he’d had with Lux. His husband was so happy about the adoption, and Wes didn’t have the heart to bring him down. Also, there was a chance he was wrong about Lux’s intentions.
But when Wes and Assa arrived on campus the following morning, it was clear Lux had acted on his bitterness.
They followed their usual routine of Wes walking Assa to the lab. As they crossed the main quad, Wes noticed sly glances directed their way. Students and faculty alike peeked up from their laptops and conversations, assessing the husbands before looking back down.
Wes upnodded one of the admins from the history department as they passed. The man turned away.
It didn’t take long for his husband to notice the charged atmosphere.
“I don’t mean to sound paranoid,” Assa said, “but does it feel like everyone is staring at us? Then pretending not to?”
There was no way for Wes to avoid the conversation.
He pulled Assa off the main path onto a cement patio. Two students immediately picked up their backpacks and left.
Knowing he needed to get to Dean Reynolds, Wes quickly explained about Lux discovering their open marriage. Assa was annoyed that Wes hadn’t told him sooner but accepted his rationale of not wanting to worry him.
“What did Lux say exactly?” Assa asked. “To make everyone look at us so sideways?”
“I don’t know. When I reach the office, I’ll try to find out how bad it is, but it’s obvious that he said something.”
“Do you think we’ll get in trouble?”
Wes shook his head. “I doubt the university can do anything since it’s about our private lives and we’ve been discreet, but if they think the fallout will be disruptive, or if families complain…” He dragged a hand through his hair.
“Alright. Well, I guess I’ll go to the lab like usual and see if anyone says anything. I’ll text you.”
“Great…and sweetheart?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s something else.”
Assa bit his lip. “What?”
“Yesterday, it’s possible Lux overheard Dean Reynolds mention the adoption. I honestly don’t know, but if he did…”
“I understand.” Assa swallowed. “But let’s not borrow trouble. We’ll handle it if we have to.”
Wes was in awe of his husband’s fortitude. The Assa he’d met in school so long ago, the man who’d been beaten down by Jeral’s taunts and insults, would not have stood so tall. Assa deserved everything good in the world. Not to be stared at like a curiosity or judged like a criminal.
“I love you,” Wes said. “Whatever happens, I’ll find a way to make this right.”
Assa tapped their foreheads together. “I believe you.”
Wes hurried to the history building and went straight to the dean’s office.
“I’ve been expecting you,” Dean Reynolds said.
Wes’s chest heaved from powerwalking across campus, but his boss sat placidly, his voice firm yet kind.
“What happened?” Wes asked, knowing there was no need to clarify.