40. Wyatt
FORTY
WYATT
A couple months later
“Damn!” Ari said and grabbed me by the lapel of my jacket. “You look so hot in suits. Can I convince you to wear them every day?”
I cupped his face and smiled at him. “Sure. During the winter months. But don’t expect me to sweat in ‘em in the summer,” I told him.
Ari rolled his eyes and then pursed his lips. “Fine. That will do.”
I kissed his nose and took a step back to admire him in his navy-blue suit and black shirt. He was fucking hot.
“You’re not so bad yourself, you know,” I said.
“I do.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I could already picture all the million things I would do to him later, when we were in the privacy of our own home.
“Gosh. You two are acting worse than horny teenagers,” Elliot said from behind me, and both Ari and I laughed.
“Sorry,” I mumbled and turned to face him.
Ari on the other hand, grabbed my arm with both hands and glared at Elliot.
“Now, now, Elliot. This is what happens when two people love each other very much. This is how babies are born. This is how you were born,” he said in a very gentle soothing voice.
Elliot groaned and looked at the sky as if searching for divine intervention. “Ew. You’re so gross. And you do know you two can’t have babies, right?”
Ari shrugged and pointed back at Elliot. “Then explain this!” he said, and Elliot shook his head, but I didn’t miss the smirk on his face.
“Are you…are you sure you want to do this?” he asked me.
Ari turned to me and I turned to him. His eyes were glowing in broad daylight, and I could gaze into them for hours, for days on end.
“I’m sure,” I said, turning back to Elliot.
“Okay, then. Let’s go,” Elliot answered and stepped through the double doors of the town hall.
The place that had up until two months ago housed a criminal. Thank goodness he’d only been mayor for less than two weeks when he was dethroned and hadn’t managed to screw up our island or its funds quite yet.
And even more importantly, thank goodness the town council had stepped in to manage things.
Currently, it was being debated whether the island should go back to having a town council as the highest seat of power, rather than a mayorship like it had for the last decade.
Most people were in support of that, if it meant no man like Wilson ever rose to power again.
“Shall we?” I asked and gestured inside.
Ari’s gaze didn’t waver from me. He simply smiled, nodded, and leaned in when he whispered, “After you.”
And so I led the way, following after Elliot as we followed the signs to family court.
It turned out our family wasn’t complete with Princess. There was still one more member to add, and while I’d thought about it before, it was Ari’s idea that had finally made me ask Elliot.
We walked into the small chambers of the family court, and Ari stood back as Elliot and I answered the judge’s questions, and once they were satisfied with the answers, we were handed the decree of adoption to sign.
It took less than fifteen minutes, and when we walked back outside, Elliot was officially my son.
“Congratulations! It’s a boy! How do you feel, pops?” Ari asked me. His face was beaming. As was Elliot’s.
“Shut up,” I told him and shoved him back, but that only made him laugh.
Then I turned to Elliot, my son, and pinched his cheek.
“Thank you,” I told him.
“What for? I should be thanking you.”
“For giving me the honor of being your dad,” I said. “I know you’re already all grown up and it doesn’t mean that much to you—”
Elliot grabbed my hand on his face and squeezed as his eyes turned red in an instant.
“It means the world to me, Wyatt. Believe me. No one believed in me like you did. No one helped me like you did. No one loved me like you did. I don’t care that I’m an adult, you are my dad.
It says so on here!” He raised the decree between us, and it was my eyes that teared up, and I pulled him in for a hug.
Never in a million years did I ever think this moment would happen. Then again, there were so many moments I never thought would happen before Ari, but here we were. Just when I’d given up on love, on family, on happiness, I got it all tenfold.
I’d been gifted with a second chance, a second life almost, and this time, I wasn’t going to waste it. Ever.
“You guys. Don’t make me cry,” Ari whined, and I roped him into the hug.
He might not have adopted Ari—not yet, anyway—but he was a part of this too.
Our family was complete now.