It’s been ten days since our Valentine’s Inc. date. I had gone back to the website and filled out the How’d We Do form the very next morning, giving them five stars. Clark told me that Bernadette had called the company insisting she talk to the young man who helped her fill out the questionnaire. Thankfully, even though it’s a large corporation, they have satellite offices, so they did actually know who she spoke to, and a red-faced Clark told me she’d invited him to our future wedding.

Clark and I had agreed that we needed to take it as slow as possible since we have the kids to consider, but we’re still moving at warp speed. We haven’t been able to get in more than a few kisses here and there, but this is the happiest I’ve been in years. We talk with each other openly, even if the only time we get together on a given day is by phone before bed, but we’re both in this, committed to seeing where it can go.

We just… click.

“Dad, is that their house?” Sydney asks as I pull up in front of Clark and Todd’s home.

“It sure is, sweetie pie.”

“Yay. This is gonna be fun,” she cheers from the back seat.

I jump out of the car and walk around, grabbing the bag of toys she insisted on bringing and the backpack that has our clothes before pulling her out of her seat. Clark had invited us over for dinner and to work on the puzzle I got him for Valentine’s Day. Since it’s a Saturday and he has two spare rooms, one set up with a queen-sized bed, we decided that Sydney and I would spend the night, too. Hopefully, after the kids fall asleep, we can have a little adult playtime.

Clark opens the door right before we reach it with Todd bouncing on his toes next to him. Todd still doesn’t really acknowledge me much, but he’s happy to have Sydney with him, and Clark had already warned me that it takes him a while to warm up to people. I still say hello and goodbye each time I see him, but I don’t push. I know we have plenty of time.

“Sydney!”

“Todd!” They yell at the exact same time, and then they’re off and running into the house.

“Where’s Penelope?”

“Oh, I left her at home. She’ll be fine for one night. Besides, I figure we’ll get out of your hair first thing in the morning.”

I’m pleased when disappointment flashes across Clark’s face. Not that I want him upset, but it’s reassuring that he wants to spend as much time with us as I want to spend with them. Standing up on my toes, I press a quick kiss to his lips before scooting around him and going in search of the kids.

Dinner is a fun affair with everyone helping, or at least dashing in and out of the kitchen. In the last ten days, we hung out at my house five times, already discovering that Clark and I work well in the kitchen together. We move around each other efficiently and have fun doing it. The kids wander in and out, Sydney fluctuating between wanting to help and wanting to play with Todd.

The kids get along even better now that they spend time together outside of school. I’d been a little concerned with the extra playtime that Sydney would abandon Todd for her other friends at school. I should’ve had more faith in my daughter. If anything, getting to see into Todd’s world at home has endeared him to her more, and like a woman going on twenty-five instead of a little girl going on five, she’s created games and things to do that will keep him from getting dirty or feeling crowded in.

“Hmm… this really is relaxing,” I say to Clark as I slot two more puzzle pieces together. He wasn’t kidding when he said that Todd is fascinated with puzzles. His shyness with me dissipated the minute we sat down at the kitchen table and started sorting the edge pieces from the middle. His little tongue poking out of the side of his mouth once we had all the edges separated and Clark directed us to start putting pieces together by the colors of the picture on the box. As Todd settled and relaxed into a flow, so did Syd, and I love the thought of this being a way we pass many a night in the future.

Glancing at the clock, I’m surprised to see it’s already eight-thirty. “Okay, kids, a few more minutes and then it’s time to get ready for bed.”

“But Todd and I can still camp out in the living room, right, Daddy?”

“Of course, you can. But you still need to get your pajamas on and brush your teeth.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

Clark smiles sweetly over at Sydney. “You tired, Syd?”

“Yeah,” she rubs her eyes with her little fists, “it’s been a long day. We played a lot, right, Todd?”

Todd nods at Sydney before standing up on his chair and climbing into his father’s lap. “I’m tired, Daddy.”

Clark winks at me while addressing Todd. “Okay, little man. How about I take you into the bathroom in my room and we’ll get you ready for bed, and Bailey can take Sydney into your bathroom, how’s that sound?”

A yawn is the only answer Clark receives before he rises out of the chair with his son in his arms and heads down the hall.

“I had so much fun, Daddy,” Syd says.

“Me, too, honey. And tomorrow we’ll have breakfast together before we head home, okay?”

“Okay.” Then she stands up on her chair, so I walk around and lift her into my arms and take her to get ready for bed.

Clark and I snuggle down on either side of where our kids lay in their spread-out sleeping bags. We each take a turn reading them a story; I read the one that Todd picked, and Clark reads the one that Sydney picked. We’ve been trying to do little things so that the kids know we’re both here for them as we all adjust to these new dynamics.

As soon as they’re both asleep, we slip into the kitchen. “At last.” Clark pulls me into a passionate kiss. My man’s days of teasing me are gone now that we realize there isn’t such a thing as us having extra time, nor privacy. I moan into his mouth, pushing my body flush against him to rub my already throbbing cock against his when there’s a sudden banging at the door. “You’ve gotta fucking be kidding me,” Clark hisses. “Stay here.”

Hearing a woman’s shrill voice coming from the door the second he opens it, I creep to the end of the hall and peek around the corner. There’s no question it’s Clark’s sister based on her light brown hair and facial features. But the lines around her eyes and lips keep her from looking younger than him. She’s still an attractive woman, though, if you’re into short, rail thin, and scantily clad. Unfortunately, her mouth is the least attractive part of her. “If you want me to leave, then give me some fucking money. Don’t think I won’t come in there and get my son.”

Clark moves his body so he’s firmly barring her entrance into the house, also obscuring my view of her, but I can still hear every horrendous word out of her mouth. “I saw that guy and his daughter come in here earlier. I waited, Clark, but they never left. When I let you adopt Todd, I didn’t think you were a faggot. If you don’t want me to take him so you can’t contaminate him, you need to pay up.” What the ever-loving fuck?

“I’m not giving you anything. I just gave you money last week to pay your rent. I don’t have anything else to give you.”

“Yes, you do. You mean you don’t want to.” Immediately, I hear sniffles. “It’s freezing out, how can you not care they’re gonna turn my heat off tomorrow?”

“First of all, the first thing you said is you need money for your rent. Now that I remind you I gave you money for your rent, you want it for your electric. Tomorrow’s Sunday, in case you didn’t know. The electric company isn’t shutting your heat off tomorrow. Go home.”

The crying stops as quickly as it began. “I’m not gonna tell you again, pay up or give me my kid back.”

“You listen to me, I didn’t buy Todd from you. They were going to take him from you in the hospital even if you hadn’t relinquished your rights to me so that I could have custody. My son has all kinds of things he has to overcome because you couldn’t get off the damn drugs long enough to have him. I’m not going to tell you again. You need to leave.”

The sound of a stomping foot echoes into the house. “Todd’s father is out in the car and he didn’t sign shit. If you don’t give us money, he’ll come in here and get Todd. Don’t think he won’t, either.”

Clark growls at her, “You don’t even know who Todd’s father is. And that kid out there leaning against the car hasn’t been hanging around you for over five years, I can guarantee you that.”

“Give me money,” she hisses.

The wail of police sirens sound through the door and a relieved breath whooshes out of me. I’m suddenly aware that my heart is beating like a damn bass drum in my chest. Relief floods my whole body as I hear the sirens pull up outside of the house before they stop. Now that I know Clark is safe, I go to check the living room and make sure the kids are still asleep. I find Snickers hovering near the end of the couch emitting a low growl, and Todd standing in the middle of his sleeping bag with his eyes as wide as an owl, and his little body visibly shaking, I squat down to him as quickly as I can. Kneeling in front of him, I say, “It’s okay. The police are here to help Daddy.” The next thing I know, two trembling arms are clutching me around the neck as tears wet the side of my face. “It’s okay, Todd. I’ve got you,” I whisper over and over. Once he begins to still, I prop his pillow up against the back of the couch and arrange him in my lap as I lean back against it. Snickers drops down at my feet, resting his head on his front paws, but the position of his ears show he’s still alert.

Continuing to rub circles on Todd’s back, even after he’s cried himself to sleep, I listen for Clark to come back into the house. It feels as if an eternity passes before he comes in to find me on the floor with his sleeping son in my arms. “Thank you for taking care of him,” he says softly.

“I’m just glad he let me,” I reply in the same quiet voice.

He smiles faintly before tipping his chin at Sydney. “Did she sleep through it?”

Glancing down at my daughter who’s managed to scoot over until she’s tucked against my leg, I smile. “Yeah, once she’s asleep, it would take an explosion to wake her.” Then I chuckle. “Or six a.m. She’s woken up at six o’clock like clockwork for her entire life.”

“Good.” Clark runs his hand through his hair before looking down at me, shame painted across his handsome face. “I’m so sorry about that. I’m sorry you had to hear any of that… sh-she was really wasted. I could tell by how dilated her pupils were. I think she was coming down and she gets… well, you heard. She gets crazy.”

“It’s okay, honey. It’s not your fault.”

Expelling a blast of air, he says, “But you and Sydney were here, and she woke Todd. He may have anxiety for days now. God, it’s not okay. This is why I took him so that he wouldn’t have that be part of his life.”

“I know. Come on down here. Lay with us.”

Clark drops down next to me, reaching up on the couch to grab a throw pillow and a blanket. He covers us up, leaning his head on mine with one arm behind my head and the other over the top of mine on his son’s back. “I’m really, really sorry.”

“It’s okay. Her crazy isn’t your fault. The good and the bad, right? That’s what a relationship’s about. I’m not going anywhere.”

He snorts. “This isn’t exactly what I had planned for tonight.”

“The best laid plans… go to sleep, Clark. We’ll talk in the morning.”