Epilogue

 

One Year Later

 

Sitting in the bright kitchen, Lachlan smiled as he watched Nicholas sitting in the corner of the room inside his play nook, surrounded by toys that he garbled to nonsensically.

Across the table, Darren was busily sketching a plan for his latest book cover, while Giovanni typed away on his laptop. This was an unofficial meeting; a friendly visit that had inevitably taken a turn for the professional when Darren gushed about a new photograph he'd found that he thought would be perfect for his new cover.

And, of course, one thing had led to another.

So when Giovanni's phone rang, he answered it immediately and no one blinked an eyelash of surprise. “Hello? Oh, hey Mum.” He stood and nodded to them, before covering the mouthpiece and saying, “I'll take this in the living room.”

Lachlan nodded his agreement, since he knew that Myra had been getting on at Giovanni lately about reconciling with his father. That was probably a conversation best not had in front of a kid about to turn two years old.

Darren sighed and paused his work to stare at the door Giovanni left by. He was very clearly worried.

“Is Myra pushing again?” Lachlan asked, afraid that all of her well-meaning hints and encouragement were going to have a negative effect on Giovanni.

“Yeah.” Darren dropped his pencil to rub his eyebrows. “Edgar has been reshuffling the company, sending Paolo to lead a different department. Since then, he's been trying to get in touch with Giovanni to come back and take over as author/editor liaison. Of course, he won't talk to his dad so he's been trading messages with him through Myra,” he admitted, sitting back in his seat and rolling his eyes.

He was right, though. It was kind of childish, but at the same time Lachlan understood why. Giovanni had to live knowing that his father had either encouraged Paolo or ordered him to switch his medication and, as a consequence of that, he'd had an episode that very seriously affected Darren. Worse still, it had damaged Darren's relationship with Jean for the next few months, until they were able to talk it out between them in therapy.

Lachlan rubbed his neck and thought about how to ease the obvious discomfort Darren felt. “Is there any chance that you or Gio could talk to Edgar in person? Even if it's just to make it clear that he should stop trying to get in touch?” he wondered, knowing that Myra must be sick of acting as the go-between, because he'd had to do it enough times himself. But, it must be making things worse not to just come out and tell Edgar that he might be Giovanni's father, but he had no right to a relationship with him anymore.

“I guess I could try,” Darren admitted, sounding quiet and thoughtful.

Before he could continue with that train of thought, the door clicked shut and Giovanni walked over to take his seat. “You'll do no such thing,” he argued, taking the seat beside Darren and offering a quick kiss to his temple. “I've told Dad before. Unless he's willing to admit that it was his fault for what happened then I'm not changing anything. He knows exactly what he needs to do to repair this relationship and he won't do it. He's not stubborn or prideful, just ignorant,” he complained, shaking his head. “He refuses to accept that he encouraged, or at worst pushed, Paolo into switching my meds and in doing so put myself and Darren in danger. If he can't open his eyes to see just how much that lies on his shoulders then I have nothing to say to him.”

Lachlan knew better than to argue. Edgar was never going to admit fault; he was never going to apologise for something that he believed wasn't his responsibility. So he would just have to help them cope with the fact that Giovanni was never going to repair that relationship. It was a sad truth, but the truth nonetheless.

“Speaking of families,” Darren piped up with a positive tone that said he was trying to change the subject, “did Konnor and Gray get off on their honeymoon alright?”

“Yeah. They're probably looking at the Eiffel Tower right now, lucky sods,” Lachlan replied with a faint chuckle. He felt a bit wistful about it, but he wouldn't give up being here with Nicholas for anything. Not even a flashy holiday in Paris.

Lachlan caught Darren gazing at his son adoringly, filling him with nothing but warmth for the friendship they'd managed to forge.

“Casen said that Konnor's family made an appearance a few days after the wedding,” Darren remarked, clearly curious to find out what had happened.

The wedding had been stunning; a simple ceremony in the Museum garden during Pride month. It couldn't have been any more colourful or happier, with all of their friends and families together. Lachlan was proud of Konnor for not turning all Groomzilla on them, over it.

“They can't seem to make up their minds.” Lachlan complained, picking up his coffee cup to take a quick sip. “One minute he's the scum of the Earth for being bi and the next he's their precious baby that they're trying to protect from my 'gay' influence. They said they were trying to 'save his soul' by interfering.”

Giovanni snorted, in what was the only appropriate response to that crap.

Lachlan grinned at him over the rim of his cup. “Exactly. Anyway, Gray's parents were already visiting, and they staged an intervention, so it turned out alright.” He shrugged, to show that he was happy they'd been there, but he couldn't be happy for the reason they had to put their foot down.

“Good.” Darren approved, as well. “It's nice what they did for Levi and Mack. Letting them stay in their apartment while they house hunt.”

“Yeah, that was a good thing,” Lachlan agreed with a nod. “With Levi steady on his meds and willingly going to therapy, Mack thought he might want to stay in their familiar apartment. To keep things stable for a while. But it was Levi's idea to move on,” he explained, taking another drink as Darren added some more shading to his drawing.

Giovanni chuckled, drawing their attention again. “I think he only agreed because Levi said those magic words; that living together and buying a house together was the next logical commitment to make to each other before getting married.” He quirked an eyebrow at Darren, who couldn't help but flush and smile back at him.

Trying not to be obtrusive, Lachlan looked away. But he'd never forget that argument between Darren and Levi at the cabin, and how much Giovanni had proven his love for his boyfriend with the words of support he'd offered afterwards.

“Too true.” Lachlan nodded and grinned as Nicholas toddled over to the couple, stood in between their seats and grabbed the sketchpad Darren had momentarily abandoned.

Panicked, all three made a grab for it, to save it from Nicholas' obsession with putting things in his mouth.

Luckily, the cover for this novel was a contemporary teen romance, his first to be published after a year of slaving away writing and agonising over it. He'd finally delivered it into Darren's hands three weeks ago and received a call at one in the morning, the minute he put down the last page.

“I have to have it, Lachlan. I need this book! When can we meet up to talk about covers?”

He'd been so thrilled that he'd spent an hour on the phone with him, talking about ideas for the cover that were only in the vaguest terms, then promising to leave it in Darren's hands. He was great with the creative stuff.

Nicholas tilted his head and frowned, as he reached out to brush his finger over the drawing.

Lachlan cringed as he reached out and opened his mouth to stop him only to be too late. It was drawn with an artist’s pencil which smudged under his light touch. “I'm so sorry,” he apologised to Darren, who was unusually quiet.

Normally he would be disappointed, try to pass it off as okay when it really wasn't or he would be visibly upset. None of that appeared to be true, as he tipped his head to one side and then the other. “Actually,” he reached out and added a few more lines, smudging a few more, before sitting back and smiling, “your son is a genius. That was exactly what it needed,” he claimed, looking up to grin at him. He lifted the sketchbook and held it up for him to see.

And, really, he had a point.

Lachlan was blown over by the beautiful drawing of a male dancer mid-backflip, with so much detail added to the clothing, facial features and attitude of the overall image. Nicholas' inadvertent smudge gave it an added depth of motion that he hadn't imagined possible on paper. “It's beautiful,” he whispered.

Nicholas beamed as if it was all his doing. Without a word, he retreated back to his play nook to pick up his favourite train and begin driving it around the mat where he sat.

Lachlan chuckled and lifted his cup for a sip of coffee.

Darren laughed with him, but Giovanni merely smiled and went back to typing on his laptop. The two were so well synced and aware of each other that it was a pleasure to watch them interact. “Well, it needs to be rendered on the laptop, adapted and given some colour, but I do think it's a great start,” Darren agreed, continuing to add notes and shading to his drawing.

Lachlan nodded, knowing that what he could see now would end up a hundred times more stunning than something he already loved. But that was the genius of D&G Publishing. The owners might be friends and fast on their way to becoming family, but they were smart, creative men who knew just how to read Lachlan's mind.

Having them as a part of his life was a miracle. He looked forward to keeping them a part of that family well into the future.