by Lisa Bilbrey
“I want to get married before the baby comes,” Elle blurted out.
Callum and Derek both turned and looked at her, while Sadie shifted onto her side so that she was facing Elle. The thought had come to her as quickly as she’d spouted it out, but she meant every word.
“If Trixie hadn’t tried to kill me, we probably would have been married already,” Elle explained, her voice shaking. “Or have at least set a date. Feels like our lives have been put on hold over the last six months, and I hate it. I hate that we’re not married, that I can’t introduce you as my husbands, or my wife.”
“But I’m so fat,” Sadie whined with a laugh. “I’m going to look horrible in a wedding dress.”
“We can have a wedding after the baby is born,” Elle suggested. “But the four of us can go to the courthouse and get married now.”
“I don’t want a shotgun wedding,” Callum argued. “I want nothing more than to be your husband, baby, but I don’t want some judge marrying us. I want you in a pretty white dress, with flowers and candles all around us. I want our families to be there. I want to dance with you, with Derek and Sadie.”
“And food,” Derek added. “Lots of food.”
The four of them laughed.
“Just saying, food, wine, and cake,” he snickered.
“Well, if we’re doing this before the baby comes, no wine for me,” Sadie said, shifting on the couch so that she was sitting up. “But we won’t really be married, will we? I mean, in the eyes of the law, the four of us can’t be legally wed. Two of us will be Davis and two of us will be Flores.”
“Hmm, guess we’ll have to do something about that, won’t we?” Callum asked. “Suppose me or Derek changed our last name. Became a Davis or a Flores. Then, when we get married, all of us will have the same last name, right?”
“True,” Derek said, nodding. “So who changes names? Me or you?”
“Rock, paper, scissors?” Callum asked, placing his right fist on the palm of his left hand.
“We are not deciding what our last name will be based on a game of rock, paper, scissors!” Elle laughed.
“I think we should take Davis as our last name,” Sadie suggested and when everyone turned their attention to her, she explained, “Samuel and Lydia were the first people to accept us. They welcomed us into the family, into the company, fought for us when everyone told them to let us go, that we were a liability.”
Pausing, Sadie took a deep breath as she struggled to keep her tears at bay. Elle grabbed her cane and pushed herself to her feet, walking over to Sadie and settling on the couch next to her, sliding an arm around her waist.
“Sorry,” she whimpered. “I don’t mean to be so emotional.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Elle whispered. “I agree with you. Besides, Elle Davis has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“Almost as good as Sadie Davis does,” she agreed with a giggle.
“Hmm, Derek Davis,” Derek mused, sitting on the sofa Elle had just abandoned. “Sounds weird to me, but I could get used to it.”
“Are you sure?” Callum asked, sitting next to him. “Because I can take Flores just as easily as you could Davis.”
“No, no, I think Sadie is right. Samuel and Lydia, they’ve been here since day one. They’ve always welcomed me into the family. If one of us is going to change our name, I think it should be me.”
“But what about Carlos and Felicia?” Elle asked. “Don’t you think they might be upset that you’re changing your name? You know carrying on the family name and everything?”
“Maybe,” Derek admitted. “But it feels right to me. I say let’s begin the process of changing my name. And once I’m a Davis, we can get married.”
“And then nobody can tear us apart,” Elle murmured under her breath.
Not even Trixie Maxwell, she thought.
Eleven
“Which courtroom are we in?” Callum asked as he led the four of them into the courthouse in downtown San Francisco.
“Eleven,” Elle and Derek both told him, probably for the fifteenth time that day.
“We’ve got half an hour until our appointed time, dude. Relax,” Derek added.
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Callum mumbled.
“Ugh, slow down,” Sadie whined, her hand cradling her stomach protectively. At twenty-six weeks, her center of gravity had shifted dramatically.
“Sorry,” Callum said, stopping and wrapping his arm around her waist. “You okay, honey?”
“Yeah, just relax. Please?” Sadie asked, turning and placing her hand on his chest.
“I’ll try.” Callum leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. “Now, let’s go.”
Sadie sighed, but nodded.
Ten minutes later, the four of them were sitting outside courtroom eleven, waiting for their chance to face the judge. The past four weeks had been nothing short of chaotic. Derek had submitted the application to change his name, but then they had to take out an advertisement in the newspaper about their petition so they couldn’t escape any debt, or so the court explained. Finally, the time had come for them to face the judge, and if all went well, he would approve the change, and he’d legally be Derek Davis.
“Oh, thank God we’re not late!”
Looking down the hallway toward the lobby, Elle saw Lydia, Samuel, Ivy, Nick, Lucia, and, to her surprise, Aaron rushing toward them.
“What are you doing here?” Callum asked, standing up and hugging his mother.
“What do you think we’re doing here?” Lydia scoffed. “Today’s a big day! We want to be here to help you celebrate!”
“It’s not every day we get a son,” Samuel added, stretching his hand out to Derek, who took it tentatively. Samuel pulled him into a hug. “We’re thrilled to share a last name with you.”
“Thank you, Samuel,” Derek murmured, thickly. “That means a lot to me — to all of us.”
“So, Mom called this morning,” Ivy said, hooking her arm in with Elle’s and pulling her attention away from Lydia and Lucia, who were fawning over Sadie’s belly.
“Yeah? Urged to pray for you again?” Elle asked, giggling.
“Probably,” Ivy snickered. “But that’s not what she asked about. She asked about you, actually.”
“What about me?”
Ivy nodded. “They wanted to fly in for today, but she wasn’t sure you’d want her here.”
“Oh.” Elle bit the inside of her lip. “What’d you tell her?”
“To call you and talk to you about it, but you know how Mom is.”
“It’s not that I don’t want them here,” Elle said. “Because I do, but at the same time, it’s hard to trust that they aren’t going to turn on us.”
“I understand, but if you never give them a chance to prove themselves, how can they?”
Elle knew Ivy was right, that she hadn’t been fair by keeping her parents at arm’s length over the last several months, but the fear of losing them again had her hesitant to let them in their life. What if it turned out Helina and James wouldn’t be able to handle her relationship after all?
“Flores. Mr. Derek Flores.” At the sound of his name being called, Derek, Elle, Sadie, and Callum turned and looked toward the door to the courtroom, where the clerk was standing with a clipboard. “Are you Mr. Flores?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Derek said, smiling.
“Great,” the young woman replied. “You’re up.”
Nodding, Derek reached for Sadie, who hobbled over to him and wrapped her fingers around his. “We’re ready.”
Callum slipped his arm around Elle’s waist as they followed Derek and Sadie into the courtroom, with Samuel, Lydia, Nick, Ivy, Lucia, and Aaron following.
“You have a lot of family here today, Mr. Flores,” the clerk stated. “Most of the time, there are only one or two people. Sometimes, not even that many.”
“Well, we’re not like normal families,” he told her with a laugh.
“Normal is overrated,” the clerk
joked, pushing open the swinging gate that separated the two parts of the courtroom. “Just take a seat at the table. Judge Landry will be with you in a moment.”
“Thanks,” Derek murmured, turning toward Callum, Sadie, and Elle. “I love you.”
“We love you, too.” Callum smiled. “Always have, always will.”
Elle found herself sitting between Callum and Sadie while they waited for the judge to turn his attention away from the bailiff. Judge Landry was an older gentlemen, easily in his late sixties. He had thin, gray hair and bushy eyebrows. As he turned from the bailiff and looked toward Derek, Elle noticed that his forehead furrowed, and she had a sinking feeling in her gut. Would he be another obstacle they had to overcome in their relationship?
“Mr. Flores, you’ve petitioned the court to legally change your surname from Flores to Davis. Is that correct?”
“Um, yes, your honor,” Derek said, standing up.
“And you’ve filled out your NC-100, NC-110, and NC-120 forms, I see,” the judge said, looking up from the stack of papers in front of him. “I’ve got copies of your CSM-010 and your criminal background check. Do you have proof of the advertisement from a local paper?”
“Yes, sir,” Derek said and held out the copy of his ad from the paper, as well as a receipt from the newspaper. The bailiff took them up to the judge, who nodded his head as he looked over them.
“Well, everything seems to be in order here,” Judge Landry said, shifting his attention from the paperwork to Derek. “I don’t see any reason to deny your request. I hereby approve your petition.” He smiled. “Congratulations, Mr. Davis. The clerk will have your court order. Don’t forget to request a new social security card. You’ll need one before you can change your driver’s license and all legal paperwork.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, your honor,” Derek rattled, excitedly. He gathered his paper work and rushed over to the county clerk, who stamped the judge’s approval on each form before handing them to Derek.
He turned and rushed to the other side of the courtroom, nestling himself in the embrace of his lovers.
—FA—
“We need another bottle of wine over here!” Derek boasted, scrambling out of his seat and stumbling toward the bar inside the small, Italian restaurant they’d met for dinner — at Lydia and Samuel’s insistence, of course.
“He’s going to get us thrown out,” Sadie laughed. She was leaning back in her chair, one hand resting on her belly, while her feet were propped up in Elle’s lap.
“I’ll keep him out of trouble,” Callum chuckled before following Derek to the bar. Elle watched as the two men talked; how they touched without fear of people watching. They made love seem so easy, so natural.
“You’re staring at them again.”
Elle rolled her eyes and looked over at Aaron, who was seated next to Lucia. He was smirking, which he tended to do around her a lot lately. They’d met for coffee a couple times, a late lunch, and Elle had him, Nick, Ivy, Jonas, and Abe over for dinner last week. She wanted to know the man who had saved her life, but he tended to tease her for her inability not to stare at her lovers.
“Am not,” she lied, picking up her ice tea. “Don’t you have children to teach?”
“Nope,” he laughed. “First of all, it’s seven o’clock at night. The children are at home with their mommies and daddies. Second, it’s summer, Elle. We ain’t got no school.”
“Did you just use a double negative?” she asked, gasping. “As an educator, I would have expected you to have proper grammar.”
“Grammar, shammar,” he scoffed. “My kids are too busy learning their numbers, shapes, and colors to care if I use a double negative.”
“You really like teaching, don’t you?” Elle asked.
“I do,” he admitted. “May sound dorky, but my kids come to me with so much excitement about school. They want to learn and play and have fun. I get them when it’s still okay to be excited, when they aren’t wrapped up in cliques, trying to figure out where they belong. In my classroom, everyone belongs.”
“And nobody thinks it’s weird, you being a male and all?” Sadie asked, frowning. “You hear about pedophiles all the time in schools.”
“If they do, they’ve never said anything to me,” Aaron said. “Though I guess there aren’t nearly as many men teaching elementary school as there are women. Maybe that’s why I feel I’m needed. We need more men being strong role models for kids. Can’t wait until is a kid is ten and suddenly expect them to know that it’s okay to be who they are, right?”
“And that’s what you do?” Elle asked. “You teach them that it’s okay to just be them.”
“I try like hell.”
Elle smiled. “And how does music fit into that part of your life? Taj auditions next week, don’t they? What if they want you? Are you going to be able to walk away from your kids if needed?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’ll tackle that bridge when we get there.”
“No shit,” Lucia groused. “We’ve gotta get an offer first.”
Lucia had called Nick two days after he pulled her on stage and accepted his offer to join the band. They’d been practicing every night, and Elle knew they were putting everything they had into this audition. Lucia and Ivy’s friendship had blossomed, too. In fact, Lucia moved in with Ivy and Nick last week, insisting that Elle, Sadie, Derek, and Callum needed their privacy. Elle suspected she had gotten tired of listening to them having sex all the time.
“We’re going to rock our audition, Luc,” Aaron said, slinging his arm onto the back of her chair. However, she flinched away from him, and he started to move his arm, looking over at Elle. She shook her head, knowing that Lucia wouldn’t want him to feel like he’d done anything wrong.
“I’m sure you will,” Elle said, leaning forward and placing her hand on Sadie’s knee. She looked up toward the bar, where Derek and Callum were now sucking each other’s faces. “For the love of God.”
Elle shook her head as she stood up and rushed over to the bar, grabbing them both by the ear and pulling them apart. “We are in public.”
“Oh, come on, honey,” Derek slurred, wrapping his arm around her and palming her ass. “Give me a kiss.”
“You’re drunk,” she laughed.
“No, I’m not!” he bellowed. “I’m happy! I’m in love! I’m gonna marry you, beautiful, and spend the rest of my life inside your pus —”
“Whoa!” Elle slapped her hand over Derek’s mouth and looked over at Callum. “I think it’s time to go home.”
Laughing, he nodded. “I’ll get Sadie. You see if you can get him out to the car.”
It wasn’t easy, but somehow, Elle managed to coax Derek out of the restaurant and out to the car. When she opened the back door for him, he laughed and pulled her in with him so that she was lying on top of him with her cane in between them.
“Baby, I wish I could fix your leg so you never needed that stupid thing,” Derek cried, wrapping his arms around her body. “I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop her from getting to you. I love you, baby. I love you so much.”
“Shh, lover,” Elle whispered, placing her hands on either side of his face. His tears burned her skin. “I’m okay.”
“Almost lost you,” he cried. “I need you so much, so fucking much!”
“I need you, too,” she murmured as Callum and Sadie climbed into the front seat of the car. They looked back at them and frowned when they saw the tears on their lovers face. “Take us home.”
During the drive back to the house, Elle had managed to shift her and Derek so that they were sitting up. He had his arm draped across her legs, his head was resting on her chest, and every once in a while, she’d feel his shoulders shake as he cried. She ran her fingers through his hair, trying to soothe away the guilt that had been eating away at his soul. The only person to blame for Trixie’s attack was Trixie herself.
Callum parked the car in front of the house and
helped Derek out of the backseat.
“I want Elle!” Derek yelled. “I need her, man. I fucking need her!”
“She’s right there,” he told him, pointing at Elle as she scooted across the backseat and climbed out of the car. “She and Sadie are going to be right behind us.”
“I love you, Cal,” Derek murmured. “I’ve always loved you.”
Callum smiled. “I love you, too. Now, let’s get inside.”
“Of you?” Derek chuckled, and turned so that he was facing Callum. In a flash, he reached out and grabbed Callum’s belt and began undoing it. “I want to suck your cock.”
“And I want you to, as well, but not out here,” Callum said, stilling his hands and pulling him toward the house. “Come on, babe.”
Derek followed Callum into the house upstairs, while trying to peel his clothes off along the way. By the time Sadie and Elle joined them in the bedroom, Derek and Callum were laying on the bed, still fully clothed, but Derek was fast asleep with his head on Callum’s chest.
Sadie laughed as she kicked off her shoes. “He’s going to feel like shit in the morning.”
“Yep,” Callum agreed, dragging his fingers through their lover’s hair. “I never realized that he felt like he’d let you down. He’s always so strong, always so confident. I thought I was the only one who felt guilty for not being there for you.”
“You shouldn’t feel guilty, either,” Elle said, sitting on the edge of the bed and toeing her sandals off. “All you’ve ever done is love me. When I was afraid to let you in, when my mother called me a whore, when they showed up and wanted another chance,” she whimpered, bringing her hand up to her lips. “You’ve just loved me. No matter how much I fought.”
Elle sighed and placed her hand on her thigh. “For a long time, I wondered if I had done something to make her hate me.”
“What?” Callum gasped, causing Derek to stir, but he quickly settled back down.
“Do you still think that?” Sadie asked.
“Sometimes,” she admitted, shifting on the bed so that she was facing both of them. “First Leo, my mom and dad, and then Trixie. I don’t know, I guess I just wondered if there was something wrong with me; something that made me unlovable.”
