CHAPTER 38 - GREEK SALAD
greek salad
CHAPTER thirty-eight
A month later, David clung to Noah’s middle as Noah ripped through the streets of Caen on his brand-new Ducati. David’s arm still wasn’t fully healed, but his plaster cast had been exchanged for a much smaller fiberglass one that he could actually move with.
“Be careful,” David growled through the microphone in his helmet.
“I’m used to going twice this speed, babydoll,” Noah replied cheerfully as they weaved through moving traffic.
When Noah said he wanted a bike, David assumed he meant an actual bicycle. Even when Noah clarified that he wanted a motorcycle, David had been imagining a Vespa to match their quaint little home in Milan. Something they could park under the olive tree in the courtyard that wouldn’t attract attention.
Then Noah brought home The Duck, as he called it. The neighbors had already yelled their noise complaint over the garden wall, and Noah had only owned it for five days.
“I don’t know what’s worse, strapping this to the back of the Alpine on the highway, or this,” David muttered as they barely dodged a woman walking her dog. “We have to make it to the hospital in one piece, Noah!”
Noah gradually slowed and leaned back into him. David never imagined himself enjoying being a passenger on a bike, but he secretly loved the excuse to hold Noah so tightly. And he looked really, really good in biker gear.
“Better?” Noah asked cheekily.
David playfully dug his fingers into Noah’s ribs. “Better.”
They rode the rest of the way to the hospital in relative silence, except when Noah almost decapitated a cyclist who tried to cut in front of them. Noah rolled to a stop at the hospital entrance, and David hopped off the back. He pulled off his helmet and hefted his backpack higher on his shoulders, eager to get inside.
Noah flipped up his visor. “I’ll be up there in a sec.”
“Hurry up.” David stepped forward and pecked the bridge of Noah’s nose—the only place his lips could reach.
“Yes, sir,” Noah teased. He flipped his visor back down and revved the engine, speeding back off into traffic to find a place to park. David didn’t know how he’d landed a man so attractive, but he asked himself that every day.
David rushed through the hospital lobby, waving to the nurse’s station on his way up to Caroline’s room. He shifted his backpack to unzip it and pulled out the to-go container of Greek salad that Caroline had requested from a restaurant on the other side of the city.
David knocked at Caroline’s door before pushing his way into the room. Caroline lay asleep in her hospital bed, fresh-faced compared to the fire-breathing dragon she’d been for ten hours of labor the day before. David had a new respect for women after being all too present for the birth of the baby in the bassinet beside her.
Pierre wriggled in his bassinet, his little red fists churning in the air as he made faces and stared up at the ceiling.
“Hi there,” David whispered to his son, setting down Caroline’s lunch at her bedside. “I’m back, just like I said.”
He washed his hands in the bathroom sink, careful to scrub under his fingernails, where he’d read bacteria liked to hide. Pierre had a fragile infant immune system, and David didn’t trust the French as far as he could throw them when it came to hygiene.
He tugged his shirt over his head and slung it over his shoulder before returning to the bassinet. Skin-to-skin contact was best for babies, and he’d held Pierre as much as possible over the last day to make sure he had as much of it as David could give.
“Come here,” David cooed, carefully supporting Pierre’s head as he lifted him from the bassinet.
Pierre gurgled at him, his giant blue eyes wide and curious. Noah thought he looked like Caroline, but David saw himself in Pierre’s little, round face.
“Did you eat lunch?” David asked as he pressed Pierre to his chest. “Getting big and strong, hm?”
He kissed the wisps of dark hair on Pierre’s head. Noah said he looked like a vulture alien—thankfully, Caroline didn’t hear him say it. David had to agree a little bit. Newborn babies didn’t look like the chubby infants in baby commercials. Pierre was gangly, red, and still figuring out his body.
The streets of Caen sprawled out the windows, full of summer tourists. Caroline’s mother said gifts were already arriving at the house from all over the world.
David inhaled the scent of Pierre’s soft hair, smiling when Pierre squawked against his chest. He had been a happy baby so far. He even slept through most of the night.
David winced when razor-sharp nails dug into his chest and Pierre clawed little furrows across his collarbone.
“Ouch,” he murmured, unable to stop smiling. “That hurts, you know.”
Pierre drooled on his chest in response, watching him intently. David loved him so much that he didn’t know how to put it into words. He wanted to hold Pierre all the time. Every part of his body ached to carry the small weight of his little body, to feel the warmth of him against his chest.
David turned at the sound of the door clicking shut and smiled when he saw Noah with his windswept helmet hair. Noah started for him, but David shook his head and gave a pointed look to the bathroom.
“Right,” Noah said in a whisper. He turned on his heel and headed into the bathroom to wash his hands.
“He’ll learn,” David said to his son with a gentle pat on Pierre’s back.
Caroline shifted on the bed, and David turned just in time to see her blink awake.
“I brought you the Greek salad,” David said. He shifted Pierre to properly cradle him as he moved to Caroline’s bedside.
“S’he hungry?” she croaked, rubbing her eyes.
“He’s not fussy or anything,” David said, captivated by the way Pierre looked around the room with those big eyes of his. “I just wanted to hold him for awhile.”
Pierre smacked his lips—little lips he’d helped create. David still couldn’t believe this was his child.
Noah stepped out of the bathroom and smiled at them. “Mum and dad—picture-perfect.”
Caroline waved him off. “I’m sure I look like a zombie right now. I think I could sleep for weeks.”
David traced Pierre’s little knuckles and grinned when a tiny hand curled around his finger. He kissed Pierre’s forehead. “You’re very strong, you know.”
Caroline grabbed the Greek salad container and popped the lid off. “Thank you for this, by the way. The food here isn’t bad, but this is much better.”
Noah rested his chin on David’s shoulder. “Shirtless, eh?”
“It’s for skin-to-skin contact,” David informed him, rolling his eyes. “So he feels closer to me.”
Noah kissed his cheek. “That was a joke. You told me like fifteen times yesterday.”
David blushed. “Right. Yesterday was kind of a blur.”
Caroline let out a snort around a mouthful of lettuce. “Yes, so busy for you.”
“Hey! That wasn’t me trying to say I was more busy than you,” David protested as Noah laughed over his shoulder.
Noah had been right outside for Pierre’s birth and was the first person to see him, along with Caroline’s parents. David had almost passed out at the sight of all of the biological things that came along with a delivery, but Noah kept him present so he hadn’t missed anything.
“When are your parents coming back?” David asked, gently swaying side to side to keep Pierre occupied.
“Soon, I’m sure,” Caroline said. “My maman will not stop taking photos. I made her go home to get my makeup bag so I don’t have to burn all the pictures later.”
“You just had a baby; you don’t need to impress anyone,” David reminded her.
Caroline glared at him. “It’s not about impressing anyone when I want to look good, David. It’s hard to look good when you just birthed a child.”
Noah squeezed David’s hips. “Generally not a good idea to tell women when they should and shouldn’t wear makeup, babe.”
Pierre squeaked at the sound of Noah’s voice, then let out a shriek.
“Wow! Very excited this afternoon,” David cooed. “Did you hear Noah? Is that what you heard? He has a funny voice, doesn’t he?”
“I’ll help you dig that grave, Caroline,” Noah teased before nibbling David’s neck. “Funny voice, huh?”
David threw him a look over his shoulder. “I can’t tell my son you have a sexy voice.”
Caroline forked up more Greek salad. “Will you teach him German, David?”
David cocked his head. “Who? Noah?”
“Our son,” she replied dryly.
David shrugged and looked back down at his son. Pierre gave him a gummy smile that filled his heart with love. David gently touched his round cheek, careful of how fragile his skin was.
“I’m not sure. I don’t speak it anymore.”
“Yes, but we’re all in Europe now, so you will be able to practice more,” Caroline said. “Of course, if you don’t want to, that’s your choice. But I think it’s always good for children to know multiple languages.”
He agreed, but the German echoing in his ears nowadays was filled with insults and painful memories. The language itself sounded particularly blunt compared to English, French, and Italian, but he supposed it would be worse for his son not to know it. His parents would hate him even more if they ever found out.
“You can teach me at the same time,” Noah offered. “What does an Australian-American accent sound like in German?”
David chuckled. “Not as sexy, unfortunately.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I have to learn it if I want to become a German citizen, right? So I might as well start.”
Caroline looked up from her salad, at the same time that David turned to face his fiancé.
“What happened to getting Italian citizenship through your dad?” David asked.
“Germany recognizes same-sex marriage. Italy doesn’t,” Noah said. “Kinda pointless to get married if it’s not going to count in the country I’m a citizen of.”
Once again, David kicked himself for his stupidity. He’d been living on a high for the past few weeks with Noah. Planning their wedding was actually fun, even though it would be small. He hadn’t even thought about legal things like gay marriage.
“France recognizes it too,” Caroline said, glancing between them. “I’m sure my father could help if you need it.”
“Sorry, Noah, I didn’t even think about that,” David apologized. He didn’t consider himself a German citizen anymore, either, not since his family stopped talking to him. The whole country seemed to be tainted.
“Babe, that’s what I hired the lawyer for, so we don’t have to think about it,” Noah said with a kiss to his bare shoulder. “We can take a little holiday in Germany, get legally married, then have the wedding in Italy, like we want to. It’s just paperwork.”
“You should be focusing on what you’ve been focusing on,” Caroline added. “My maman asked me to thank you once again for helping with all of the last-minute things with the nursery.”
“Of course. It gave me something to do,” David said with a shake of his head. He wiggled his finger, which was still locked in Pierre’s little fist. “Pierre needs a comfortable place to come home to.”
Caroline smiled up at him. “He’s so calm when you’re around. When you left, he cried for thirty minutes before he finally settled. I barely napped.”
“Why did you do that?” David asked his son. “She needs to sleep. You did enough keeping her awake the past few weeks.”
Pierre gurgled in response, smacking his lips like a fish. It was the most adorable thing David has ever seen. He wanted to spend every moment like this, watching his baby grow.
He would never, ever understand how his father could look at him and want to hurt him. Whenever he looked at Pierre, he saw a fragile, perfect baby he needed to protect with everything he had.
David tilted his head to rest against Noah’s, worrying his bottom lip. “Everything will work out, right?” he asked in a whisper.
Noah nuzzled against him, every bit as loving as he’d always been. He was still David’s favorite person and the one he loved most in the world—well, tied with his son now.
“We’ll make sure of it,” Noah replied. “Don’t worry about a thing.”