Chapter Four
Sawyer held David’s hand as they walked to Zoe’s bakery. He couldn’t keep the grin off his face. An older man approached them, eyes fastening on David. Sawyer didn’t like the hunger and disdain he saw in the man’s expression.
“Mr. Bartley,” the man said. “How are you?”
“Roger,” David said, his nose in the air. “So sorry, but I can’t talk. My boyfriend and I have somewhere to be.” David pulled him along past the man.
“Who was that?”
“A man I dated,” David answered, making a face. “In private, he’s a completely different person. In public, though, he’s all about appearances and what others think about him. I should feel sorry for him and try to be more understanding, but he was actually ashamed to be seen in public with me.”
“That fucking bastard,” Sawyer said, trying to turn around and go after the man. David laughed and tugged him toward the bakery.
“Come on, Sir Lancelot. I want to see the kids.” David swept into the bakery, looked absolutely beautiful and Sawyer swore every man turned to admire him. Fuckers. The kids sat at their booth surrounded by people with gap-toothed smiles. Did Lauren Hutton spawn a cult or something, Sawyer wondered.
Ray sat beside Harry, showing him something on his tablet. The crowd parted as David and Sawyer approached and the kids saw David.
Ryder yelled and clamored over an older man in his sixties. “Sorry, Gramps,” his son called back. “It’s Uncle David.” He launched himself at David and the man grabbed him and spun him around.
“Ry Ry,” David said with a laugh. “You’ve gotten so big, sweetheart. I missed you. Oh my god, you’re almost as tall as I am.” He peppered the boy’s face with kisses and set him down.
“My turn, Uncle David,” Harry said. “Do you remember me?”
“You were just a baby,” David said, hugging Harry. “You’re almost grown now. Are you married yet? When did you graduate college?”
Harry laughed. “I’m just eight, Uncle David.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” David said. “You’re just so big.” He gave Harry his kisses, holding the giggling boy tightly in place. Sawyer laughed at them, shaking his head.
David looked around, eyes landing on a frozen Sadie. “Sadie? Are you going to forgive me?”
Sawyer frowned. Forgive him? For what? His daughter’s lip trembled, her eyes wide with emotion. She pushed out of the booth and ran to David, tears streaming down her face. “You won’t leave again, right,” she asked. “You didn’t say goodbye last time. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I won’t do it again. Just don’t leave.”
David buried his face in her hair, hugging the sobbing girl. “Baby girl, I’m so sorry. You did nothing wrong, absolutely nothing. I swear I won’t leave you again. Even if your dad and I aren’t together, I’m here. I promise.” Sawyer’s heart hurt. He hadn’t realized she had missed David so much.
She rubbed her face against his shoulder. “I know you loved Dad and us. Is that why you left? It hurt for us not to be yours?”
“That’s it in a nutshell, baby girl. Do you forgive me? I should have kept in touch with you and the boys.”
“It would have hurt you too much,” she said. “I’m not mad at you. Just don’t ever leave again, okay?”
“Never,” he promised. “You and your rascally brothers are mine now.”
“Dad is yours too,” Harry added, worried eyes on his sister and David. “We have Chunky, Daisy, and Mo too.”
“You still have Daisy? Remember when I gave her to you, Ryder?”
“She was my birthday present,” he said, beaming. The calico cat was a snooty little jerk, but she loved Ryder and Harry. She puked in Sawyer’s shoes every chance she got, though.
“Let’s sit down, huh?” Sawyer pushed David and Sadie into the booth and pulled up some chairs. “Who are your new friends?”
“This is Gramps,” Ryder said. “He said, that if you gave permission, he would take us sledding tomorrow. This is Zoe, but you know her. She gave us food. This is Elijah and Carter. They’re Uncle David’s best friends, even though he doesn’t know it, and this is Olive, their daughter. Then this is Grey and Abel. They’re also Uncle David’s friends and wanted him to date Ray. We told them that Uncle David belongs to you.”
“Good,” Sawyer nodded, glaring at Ray. The man didn’t even look guilty. He just grinned and shrugged. “It’s nice to meet you all.”
“Why are you all here?” David looked pointedly at each Wilson. He kept his arms around Sadie, hugging her. Sawyer’s daughter soaked it up.
Grey cooed at him, making a kissy face. “Because you’re in love, David.”
“David and Sawyer, sitting in a tree,” Abel started.
“K. I. S. S. I. N. G,” Elijah continued at the top of his lungs.
“You guys are so childish,” Olive said with a look of disappointment. The five-year-old girl was really good at giving disappointed looks.
Sawyer laughed. These people really cared about David and he absolutely loved it. He knew that moving the kids here was the right idea. He might be able to talk David into going back to California, but this was where he belonged. Sawyer had a hunch that this was where they all belonged.
“Well, even though we’re childish, we would like to take you all ice skating,” Elijah said then stuck his tongue out at his daughter.
“I’ve never been ice skating. Can we go, Dad? Please?” Harry turned big, sweet eyes his way.
“We can, but we need to go get our pets and our stuff from the inn first,” he said.
“Wonderful,” Grey said. “We’ll meet you at the pond. I want to check on my honey bunches. Harry, Olive promised to show me how to skate, so she’ll show you too.”
“I will,” the little girl nodded solemnly.
“Gramps and I will help you move your stuff,” Ray said, getting up from the table. “Tell Harper we said hello, Grey.”
“Will do,” the omega said, heading for the door. “He can’t wait to be off bedrest.”
Sawyer gave David a questioning look and he leaned in to whisper. “Harper is his husband. He was shot protecting Grey from a crazy co-worker. He’s getting better, but the doctor has him on bedrest for another few days.” He nudged Sawyer with his foot. “Move it, big guy. I can’t wait for them to see the house.”
“Is there room for us all? We can share if we got too,” Harry said.
Gramps snorted. “That house is plenty big enough for you all.” His eyes sparkled as he watched David and Sadie lead the way outside. He looked back at Sawyer. “Plenty of room. Did he tell you he’s having twins?”
“He did mention that we were having two babies,” Sawyer said with a smug grin.
Gramps patted his shoulder and left with the rest. Sawyer turned back to Zoe. “What do I owe you? Thank you for keeping an eye on them and feeding them.”
The blond smiled softly. “You don’t owe me anything. David is family, even if he doesn’t realize it all the time.”
“Zoe,” he said, frowning. “They probably ate a ton.”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, shaking her head. “Family is family. Take care of him, alright? He doesn’t realize how loved he is.” She disappeared into the kitchen.
“Come on Dad,” Ryder said, grabbing Sawyer’s arm and pulling him outside. Harry was already in Gramps’ truck, buckled in and waving goodbye. Ray walked with the rest of them to the inn and they piled all their things into Gramps’ truck and the rental.
A short trip later and David was directing him to the garage at the back of the house. “I didn’t even notice a garage this morning,” Sawyer said, parking next to the small, powder blue Subaru.
“It’s an add-on,” he said. “I’m glad the previous owners built it, but it’s easy to miss since it’s at the back.” They unloaded the cars and went in through the mudroom.
“This is our new house?” Harry’s eyes were big. “It’s huge. Do you think it’s haunted?” He ran past David and darted up the steps. Ryder followed at a more sedate pace, carrying Daisy.
Chunky walked slowly around the kitchen, surveying his new home. The large, grey, fat tabby sat on David’s foot and looked up, giving a small meow. “What do you want, Mr. Chunky?” David reached down and picked him up, groaning at his weight. “Do you want to meet Cadbury? You can’t eat him, okay?”
“Who’s Cadbury,” Sadie asked. She had stayed close to David since the bakery.
“He’s the youngest resident of Casa de David,” he said. “I’ll show you.” Mo followed the two to the living room.
Sawyer left them to it and set out the food and water bowls and the first litter box. He had to put the cat bowls in the mudroom on top of a cabinet so Mo wouldn’t eat it. The dog loved cat food. He jogged up the stairs to check on the boys. They were in the nursery with Ray.
“Dad, is Uncle David having a baby?” Harry looked snarly. “Aren’t we enough,” he asked, stomping his foot.
“He hired a nice woman to have a baby for him because he really wanted a family. He didn’t know we were on the way, Harry,” Sawyer said.
“Is he gonna get his money back since he doesn’t need it anymore?”
“Harry!” Ryder poked his younger brother’s ear. “You can’t refund a baby. We’ll just have a little brother or sister.”
Harry rubbed his ear, scowling. “I guess that’s alright.”
“You’ll actually be having two little brothers or sisters,” Sawyer said, wanting to get it out of the way. It would be better to let them complain now and not later in front of David.
“Is the lady having twins?” Ryder looked startled. “That’s cool.” He turned to Harry. “Having a little brother or sister is fun, Harry. I love hanging out with you, but I didn’t think I would when you were born, and look at us now. I didn’t even try to sell you to the neighbors, and that was the original plan.”
Sawyer covered his face and groaned, but Ray just laughed, patting his shoulder. “You’ve got good kids, Sawyer. These two will be good big brothers, just you wait and see.”
“We will, Dad,” Ryder said. “Remember when Daisy didn’t like Chunky when we brought him home? Then she got used to them and now they love each other. We’ll be like that.” He darted into the hall. “Which room is mine?”
“You two pick quickly. We’re going skating, remember?” The boys ended up picking two rooms at the other end of the hall. There was a shared bathroom between them, so it was perfect. Both were sparsely furnished, but considering all their furniture was on the way from California, that was a good thing. David stepped into Harry’s new room.
“My room has a window seat, Uncle David. Look, look,” Harry said, bouncing on the cushions.
“It’s the perfect room for you. Look over here,” David said. “There’s a little hidey hole.” He lifted up a small board in one of the corners. “You can hide all your secret things here.”
“That’s so cool,” Ryder said, following Harry. He stopped and stared at David. “Do you have a rabbit in your purse?” David had a small, brown leather shoulder purse hooked across his chest. Cadbury rode in it, his little head poking out.
“This is Cadbury.”
Harry and Ryder’s eyes stayed glued to the rabbit and the two boys sat on either side of David. “He’s so cute,” Ryder said. “Can we hold him?”
“Sure. He already met Chunky, and he kept licking Cadbury, so Chunky will either try to eat him or raise him as his own.”
“He’ll raise him,” Harry said confidently. “Chunky doesn’t even like chasing mice. Daisy may try to eat him, though. We’ll watch out for him.” The boys passed the rabbit back and forth between them while Gramps rolled their bags to their rooms.
“Thanks, Gramps,” Sawyer said, then blushed. “I’m so sorry. I never caught your name.”
“Just call me Gramps, son. Everyone does. You’ll get used to us after a while.” He smiled, blue eyes kind. “Sadie picked the big room downstairs. Where do your things go?”
“The room next to David’s,” he said, wishing he could just say David’s room. He reminded himself that six days ago, he hadn’t even known where David was. He hadn’t even known they were moving.
“Don’t worry, son,” Gramps said, giving him a sympathetic look. “Look how far you’ve gotten. You and the kids are already moved in and it’s just been a day.”
“Good point,” Sawyer said, nodding. “I can’t believe I’ve found him again.
“Come on, guys,” Sadie yelled from downstairs. “I want to ice skate.”
The boys ran past him, clomping down the stairs. “Come on, big guy,” David said, grabbing his hand. He leaned up and kissed Sawyer’s cheek. “Let’s go have some fun.”
***
Later that night, Sawyer’s family were dressed in their Sunday best, awaiting the New Year with the town of Hobson Hills. Most of the town gathered in the high school’s gym, eating and dancing the night away. He sat with David at a small table, holding hands and sipping champagne. His man looked damn fine in a nice fitting suit.
“Look at them,” David said, sniffling. He pointed to two teenagers slow dancing together. “Last night, Shawn was on a faux date with me. Tonight, we’re both with the people we really wanted.”
“You went on a date with a teenager,” Sawyer asked. David shrugged, looking unconcerned.
“David,” an older, gruff man said, approaching the table. He pulled Sawyer’s lover into a hug and Sawyer gritted his teeth, reminding himself that he couldn’t punch every man who hugged David.
“Jonathan,” David said. “It’s great to see you outside the store. You work way too much.” He pulled Sawyer to him. “This is my boyfriend, Sawyer.”
Jonathan scowled. “Damn it. I didn’t make my move in time.”
Sawyer smirked and shrugged. “As my daughter says, sorry, not sorry.”
David rolled his eyes and elbowed Sawyer. “Ignore him, Jonathan. You know you and I wouldn’t have worked. Marty Swanson has his eye on you and would have stolen you from me. I would have been crushed.” He sighed dramatically. “Woe is me.”
Jonathan and Sawyer shared a look. “You’ll have your hands full,” Jonathan said, winking. “Good luck.” The man ran away, laughing, when David gasped, swatting at him.
Sawyer pulled David into a dance, swaying with him. “I love you, David Bartley,” he whispered, nuzzling his man’s neck.
“I love you too, Sawyer Gregor,” David told him, settling his head on Sawyer’s shoulder.
From the corner of his eye, Sawyer watched Olive and Harry dance with some of her friends beneath the shiny disco ball. Harry looked like a maypole as the little girls danced around the older boy. He heard Sadie’s laughter. She sat with a gaggle of teenage girls. They talked and talked and talked. Sawyer had a feeling there would be sleepovers soon. Ryder and another young Wilson, Hannah, sat at an empty table, making a list of goals for the upcoming year. Sawyer couldn’t help but grin as he watched the two. They were both more organized than most adults.
David stopped dancing and gave him a sweet smile. He pulled Sawyer into the hall as the countdown to mid-night began. David’s smile turned to pure seduction as he wrapped his arms around Sawyer. Sawyer pulled him close and kissed him. He vaguely heard everyone yell mid-night, but his attention was elsewhere. He had a feeling that this would be the best year of his life.