by Aiden Bates
Logan opened his mouth as a surge of jealousy flared inside of him. Had Utkin really dared to touch his omega? Was he possibly the father of the child that Sam carried inside of him? He clenched his hands into fists, ready to go chase Sam down.
And then he stopped himself, laughing. There was no way that Sam would have let Utkin touch him. Sam had barely been able to overcome his own class biases to get to know Logan; he loathed Utkin, and he'd never made a secret of that. "I do hope that we'll be in a position to do business again sometime, and if you're ever in the Portland area again, we'll be sure to grab a round of golf."
He hung up the phone and told Sam about the incident downstairs in the bar. Sam wasn't as amused by the lie as Logan had been, until Logan told him about laughing at Utkin and hanging up on him. "I'm pissed that he accused me of cheating, and I'm pissed that he'd think it would be okay to put that thought in your head." Sam pouted, actually pouted, and he put down a bottle of whiskey with more force than necessary. "I'd never do that. I never did do that. And I'd sure as hell never do that with someone like him, okay? I was only ever attracted to you."
Logan wrapped him up in his arms. "I know, Sam. I know. We love each other. I got all alpha for half a second and then I remembered who my omega is. Then I laughed at him, because come on, let's be real. Him? Really?" He snorted. "Never."
Christmas came and went, and so did New Years. Joe's had a New Year's Eve celebration that drew a big crowd. At exactly midnight, Silas dropped to one knee and pulled a small box out of the pocket of his half-apron. Kaylee, who was helping out behind the bar while she waited for the restaurant to open, covered her mouth with her hands. "Yes," she said, with tears streaming down her face. "Yes, a hundred times."
Logan couldn't help but feel pleased. He couldn't quite understand what Kaylee saw in Silas, but he knew that she did love him and he seemed to love her. Logan could appreciate that. Things between him and Sam were still unsettled, although they were committed to trying to make things work, but he felt that the joyful resolution for Silas and Kaylee was only a good thing.
Once the calendar turned toward the New Year, they were able to get started on the new restaurant in earnest. Logan had been working for New England Restaurants for a long time, and he'd gotten a degree in hospitality management. He hadn't had the opportunity to plan a restaurant from the ground up, though. He'd always been brought in after the major decisions had been made. Sometimes those decisions had been good. Sometimes, as with Trattoria Siena, they had been less than good.
This time, Logan got to make or be involved with all of the decisions from the beginning. He worked with the others, of course. Silas and Sam claimed to not know anything about restaurants, but they knew the local market and Sam had a head for business and for finance that rivaled anyone Logan had known in college. Kaylee, of course, knew food inside and out. Between the four of them, they would be able to craft a restaurant that should be able to last for generations.
Logan agreed with Silas' original intentions for the restaurant. He thought that a plan for a slightly upscale pub and pizza kind of place would fill a necessary niche. The place would operate separately from Joe's, but they'd also complement one another. After some debate, they agreed to call the place Josephine's. It emphasized the connection to the older, more established business but made it seem more family friendly.
The restaurant didn't need a lot of work, and they were able to open by Valentine's Day. They had a good-sized crowd that night, and the crowd seemed to be mellow and happy with their experiences. The crowd the next night was bigger, and orders from next door kept them hopping the whole night. Logan was able to hire back several of the staff members from the trattoria that he'd had to let go, and by the end of the first month Josephine's was profitable.
His relationship with Sam, and with Silas and Kaylee, was harder to manage. He loved Sam, and he was reasonably sure that Sam loved him. At the same time, he knew that Sam was having a lot of trouble trusting him, and he found that the unease of it all made him sharp-tongued and cranky. Having Silas breathing down his neck didn't help, either. Silas might have helped to reunite Logan and Sam, but that didn't mean that he was Logan's friend.
Logan and Sam were growing apart. They didn't fight much, but sex had definitely become an exception instead of the rule, and they were going out of their way to avoid contact with one another. Sam would fall asleep on the couch more often than not, and he wouldn't say why. Logan couldn't help but feel as though maybe things weren't going to work out with his omega after all.
Then the tenants in the next apartment gave notice that they were moving out. Silas sat them all down. "Look," he said with a smile. "I get that we all like living together, or at least that Sam and I like living together, but I think that it's time that Kaylee and I moved out. Just into the next apartment," he hastened to add.
Logan turned to look at Sam, whose face was stricken. "It's just next door, Sam," he murmured. "He'll still be at work with you every day, and he'll still be able to come home and watch space TV with you." He stroked his hand through Sam's long hair.
"It's time that we both had a little more privacy. We're always going to be brothers, and we're always going to love and look out for one another." Silas reached across the table and took Sam's hand. "But you know, I'm getting married, you're having a baby. And I'm pretty sure that it's going to be better for you if you've got your own space to do it in."
Sam sniffed, like he was about to cry. Logan didn't think he'd ever seen his lover cry before, and he didn't see him cry now, but it was a very near thing. "I don't want to kick you out of this apartment. I can take the other one."
"Nah. You've already put all the work into fixing up the baby's room. It's cool. Besides, I'm totally taking the furniture."
The old tenants moved out. Silas and Kaylee moved next door, and Logan got his own things moved into the apartment that he now shared with his heavily pregnant omega. If he thought that would bring peace to their relationship, he was quickly disabused of that notion.
They fought on their first night alone. Sam pointed out that Logan had left dirty dishes in the sink. Logan, in what he thought was a perfectly reasonable response, told him that it had never bothered him before. Sam retorted that he'd never said anything because he didn't want to make a scene in front of Silas and Kaylee.
They fought about the dishes. They fought about housekeeping. They fought about how late Sam stayed up, and how much or how little Sam ate. Logan actually packed his bags at one point, ready to go out and find another apartment. He'd had such high hopes for this new living situation, only to have them dashed by finding out that they were completely incompatible.
And then he unpacked them. "Things were strained between us before your brother moved out because we couldn't talk," he said. "Now we're kind of going the other way."
"Well, yeah." Sam was probably seven and a half months along by this point, far enough that he could rest the remote on his belly and watch it bounce when the baby kicked it. This was a favorite hobby of his. "I should be able to tell you that the dishes are piling up without you losing it on me."
"I should be able to disagree as to whether or not something is an emergency without being accused of losing it." Logan glared. "Do we still love each other?"
Sam hunched in on himself. "I think I do. I still think you're going to ditch, though."
Logan sighed. "Is there any way to convince you that I'm not?"
Sam shook his head, not looking at him. "Probably not, no."
Logan pulled him into an embrace. "You get that I'm just going to have to keep on trying."
The spring stretched into June, and Sam had to stop working behind the bar by about the middle of the month. His belly was too big, and he was just too uncomfortable to move. He holed up in their apartment, emerging only to walk his beloved Siena. It wasn't a surprise to anyone when he woke Logan in the middle of the night to tell him that they needed to drive into Portland, right the heck now
.
Joseph Marlowe Evers was born at eight o'clock in the morning on June 23. It wasn't as quick a delivery as it appeared; when they got to the hospital, it turned out that not only had the birth canal already formed, but had widened by a good bit. Apparently Sam had been ignoring his contractions because he wanted to wait until Logan had gotten some rest first. Logan, Kaylee, and Dr. Young pronounced him to be completely ridiculous and told him not to do that again.
Sam, still in pain and exhausted from giving birth, didn't have any problem making that promise.
They spent three days in the hospital, not because anything was wrong with baby Joey but because Dr. Young wanted to make sure that Sam didn't experience any complications. Siena was overjoyed to see her human again, and the little family settled into their new life together.
Sam took to parenthood right away. Logan had known that he would. Anyone just had to see how quickly he'd taken to Siena to see how great he'd be at being a daddy. The big surprise for Logan was in how well he himself took to being a father. He loved getting up for the three AM diaper changes and feedings. He loved to hold his little boy and to rock him to sleep. He liked nothing more after work than to come home, take his omega and his son into his arms, and to sit in a big pile on the couch together.
And to think he'd let his own fears, and his own ambitions, almost stop him from doing this.
Sam recovered quickly from his pregnancy, and by the time September rolled around, he'd gotten his pre-baby body back. Logan went to Silas and Kaylee, and asked if they'd be willing to watch Joey for a night or two. He had something that he wanted to ask of Sam, and he had someplace specific that he wanted to ask it.
It was a little difficult to convince Sam to take a couple of nights away from Joey and Siena, but when Logan agreed to hop on his bike again he agreed. He filled saddle bags with changes of clothing and they drove out to Georgetown, where Logan checked them into a turret room in a beautiful old boutique hotel. They walked along the beach, and then they headed back to their room.
Logan locked the door behind them. "Sam," he said, "we've been together for about a year now. We have an amazing son, and we're building a life together. It hasn't always been easy, but it's worth it. You're worth it. I have one more thing that I want to ask of you." He stroked Sam's cheek. "Will you be my omega? Will you let me claim you, forever?"
Sam stopped breathing for a minute. "Are you joking with me right now?"
Logan shook his head. "No. Not joking. I love you, and I want us to be tied together in a way that can't be undone. Please. Let me be your alpha. I want people to see you and to know that I'm yours, and you're mine. It doesn't take away from Silas, but —"
Sam slammed their mouths together. "Logan, yes."
<<<<>>>>
Bonus Chapter Thirteen
Sam cursed when his phone buzzed in his pocket, making him jump. He pulled it out and swiped to remove the alarm. "All right, kiddos," he said to his kids. "Do you think that you're both ready for the party?"
Joey jumped up and down and clapped his hands. He was the guest of honor today, so of course he was ready. He'd been ready since five o'clock in the morning, when he'd peered over the side of Sam and Logan's mattress with his huge blue eyes and willed his parents awake. "Birthday birthday birthday birthday birthday!" he cheered, running toward the door and clapping his hands.
Sam looked at his daughter. She looked back at him with solemn green eyes and shook her head. Marley looked ready for the party, and a quick sniff test proved that her diaper was clean. Her shake of the head was just an editorial comment, then. Sam ruffled her dark hair and grinned at her. "Just you wait, kiddo. Your time is coming."
She laughed and reached up to touch Sam's claim scar. The little girl, all of eighteen months old, was fascinated by the markings on her daddy's body. She liked his claim scar. She liked his tattoos. She liked the little mole that had always stood out right there, just below his right elbow. Kids, go figure. Joey had never seemed to notice anything about his daddy's skin, but Marley was fascinated by all of it.
"Okay, kiddos. Let's go have some cake." Sam grabbed his keys and headed out the door, Marley balanced on his hip and Joey vibrating his way down the hallway like a race car being held back.
The party was being held at Josephine's, because they'd be foolish to have it anyplace else. After the first year, Sam had taken a look at the books, and he'd taken a look at the types of requests they got from customers. They couldn't get away with closing off a section of their already small dining room for functions; that just wasn't reasonable. They could, however, build up, and add seating and a function room over the original restaurant. There were a few headaches, and some disruption, but before long Josephine's had become the "it" place to have a gathering in Westbrook. The Marlowe clan could have parties there for free.
Sam and his brood weren't the first people there. Logan was already upstairs, which only made sense seeing as how he ran the place. He was hanging the last of the stars from the ceiling with a rueful shake of his head. There was no part of Joey that wasn't a hundred percent Marlowe, and that meant that he would spend hours looking through his dad's and his uncle's telescope at the stars and planets. His birthday party had a "galaxy" theme, and while any of the Marlowe males could have corrected Logan on the placement of the heavenly bodies on the ceiling none of them did.
Kaylee was also there, with her little girl. They'd gotten married not long after Logan claimed Sam, and baby Olivia followed eight months after that. Olivia and Joey were pretty much inseparable, to the point where they could finish one another's sentences, and both Kaylee and Logan despaired of ever prying them apart. Sam and Silas didn't worry about it. They knew that it was just he next generation of Marlowes, taking care of one another.
Silas came upstairs a few seconds after Sam. He spared a hug for his brother, and high fived his nephew, before going over to his wife and putting a hand on her swollen belly. Kaylee was due in a couple of weeks with another little girl, and if her behavior on the inside was any indication this one was going to be a hellion.
More people trickled in after that. Joey was in preschool now, because it was good for him to socialize outside his own family or so all those child development books told them. Joey liked it, anyway, and he had lots of friends who were all super excited to eat pizza and cake with him.
Sam had hired a kids' party coordinator to plan activities. He was good at a lot of things. Kids' activities was not one of them.
The kids played games that made no sense to the adults but entertained them for a while, and they sang songs. They played some more games, and then they sat down to their pizza. It was just as they sat down to their pizza that a strange face joined the crowd.
The man was tall, with rail-thin shoulders and a pot belly. His long white hair hung by the sides of his face in two white braids, and he dressed in denim that looked as clean as jeans could be after being on the road for a while. His tanned face had the lines of hard living, and bottle-green eyes stared back out at the silent crowd that gaped at the arrival.
The man carried a helmet under his arm. He put it on the nearest table and swallowed. "Which one's my grandkid?"
Sam turned to his brother. Silas' jaw dropped. "Dad?" Silas whispered.
"They can't all be yours," said Daniel Marlowe, and sat down at the grown-ups table.
"All right everyone," Sam directed with a big smile on his face. "Dig in." He passed Marley over to her father, who stayed half a step behind Sam the whole time.
The parents of Joey's friends, the ones who weren't Marlowes and had no idea what was going on, stared. A few edged away from Dad. Kaylee and Logan edged closer to their mates. "So, Dad." Sam swallowed. "This is a surprise."
"Oh. Yeah. I guess it's been a little while. A day or two, maybe." Dad accepted the slice of pizza that a nearby parent slid his way. "Thanks, ma'am." He turned back to his sons. "Did you pass that big test in school, Sam? I know you were worried about it."
/> Sam looked down at himself. He'd grown by a whole foot since he'd last seen his father, fourteen years ago. "Yeah, Dad. I passed it." He bit his tongue. "It's been a bit more than a day or two."
"Oh." Dad looked down. "I guess I lost track of time."
Silas' face got red. "Dad, how about you and me step outside. I'll fill you in on what all you missed."
Dad gave Silas an easy smile. "I'd like that." He headed back outside.
Sam put a hand on his brother's arm. "Go easy on him, Silas," he said in a quiet voice, as conversation started up around them again. "I don't think he's right."
All of Silas' muscles clenched. "Damn it." He followed their father.
Sam and Logan got the family through the rest of the party. They sang the birthday song. They did presents, and they cleaned up after the mess made by a horde of excited children. The other parents seemed to forget the sudden appearance of the senior Marlowe.
