by A. E. Wasp
“Fine. Last I saw them, they were playing with those kids your friend Annette brought with her. Those aren’t hers, are they?”
“Nope. Extras.”
“She’s hilarious,” Allie said. “I like talking to her. We have a playdate next week.”
“Oh, I’m so glad.” He looked at the boxes piled high on the counter. Someone had cleaned up the destroyed birthday cake and reset the table decorations. Despite Alex asking on the invitation that people not bring presents, a pile had accumulated anyway. Suzanne had explained that any kid old enough to remember their birthday was going to want to pick out a present for the babies. The twins were quite popular with the two-and-over crowd.
“Help me set this up, Allie. Just rip the lids off. I don’t care.”
Allie laughed. “What happened to the real Alex? Who are you?”
Alex handed her a stack of plates from the cabinet. “How are you doing, Allie? Honestly.” She’d been with them about a month so far. The divorce case was making its way slowly through the system. Her lawyer didn’t anticipate much trouble, but these things took time. Sergei was making sure they uncovered every asset that weasel Chuck had.
“Not bad, Alex. Truly. I can’t thank you and Sergei enough.”
“Please. You’ve done more for me than you even know. You’ll know soon enough, though.”
She turned to him, a plate of sticky-looking gluten-free cupcakes in her hand. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll see,” he said, pretending a carelessness he didn’t feel. What he was planning to do made his heart pound. He wanted to tell her, but if she showed the least bit of doubt, he’d chicken out. And he really didn’t want to do that.
Finally, everything was ready. Everyone was crammed into the big living room, looking happy just to be together. Alex’s heart swelled at the number of people around him. All the doubt left his mind. His idea was perfect. The setting and the timing perfectly imperfect.
Sergei carried the twins up to the front of the room, handing David over to Alex. Alex kissed all three of them. “Hi, everyone,” he said. “Thank you so much for coming to our party.”
“Is it cake time?” a small voice asked. Everyone laughed.
“Soon, very soon. I promise,” Alex assured the kid. “I just have one short thing to say and then sugar and fat and gluten-free flour for everyone. Bear with me one second.”
Alex’s hands shook. He held David tighter to hide it. “I think most of you know that Sergei and I have known each other for a long time, right? Since we were kids?”
He waited for the nods of agreement.
“Well, back when this chapter of our lives started, on one of the worst nights of my life, actually.”
Allie snorted. He smiled at her.
“That night, we had a discussion about love. What it was, how it was different than friendship or even friends with benefits? How do you know if you love someone or if you’re in love with someone and is there even a difference? We never did find an answer to any of those questions.”
The crowd murmured, and he could feel Sergei staring a hole in the side of his head. Suspicion was dawning in Allie’s eyes, and Alex couldn’t even make eye contact with Suzanne.
“I still don’t know. I do know that I’m crap at thinking I deserve anything, and I’m terrible at accepting help, and absolutely horrible at asking for anything because of those issues.” Now he turned to Sergei. Several women gasped. He saw Paul giving him a thumbs up from the back of the crowd. It made him feel stronger.
“I know I’ve been difficult. Not committing, not believing in you, and not letting you give me things. And I know I probably don’t deserve you—this—but I don’t care. I want it. So, now I’m asking you for everything. Give me everything, Serhoya. Give me you, give me us, give me a family and a future. Sergei Ivanovich, will you marry me?” Alex couldn’t stop smiling.
There was a collective inhale, and every eye turned to Sergei.
The look in Sergei’s eyes was answer enough for Alex, but he wasn’t going to cheat the crowd of its moment. “Well?”
“You make me crazy,” Sergei said. Someone took the baby out of Alex’s arms at the same time Allie took Tatyana from Sergei.
“So, you don’t want to marry me, then?” His smile grew even bigger.
Sergei stepped closer to Alex, their bodies touching. “What I want to do to you I cannot say at child’s birthday party,” he growled into Alex’s ear, keeping his voice low.
Allie giggled, and Alex blushed and licked his lips. Sergei smirked and stepped back. “Yes, Alex Pierre, I will marry you.”
The room erupted in cheers and applause. David startled and burst into tears. “Kiss him!” Lipe called.
Alex wasn’t sure to which ‘him’ Danny was referring. Just to be on the safe side, he kissed Sergei hard, and then let Sergei kiss him.
The party wound down quickly after that. Allie took the babies to the cribs in her guest house to put them down for a nap. A handful of the guys started picking up the backyard. The SAPS sent the men home with the babies and banished Sergei and Alex upstairs.
“We’ll clean up,” Suzanne said, practically pushing them out of the room.
“You really don’t have to,” Alex protested.
“I found the wine,” he heard Annette announce.
“Alex. Do not deny me my kid-free time to drink wine with my friends and talk about you and your man behind your backs.” Suzanne put her hands on her hips and stared him down.
“Well, when you put it that way. I don’t want to be selfish.” He hugged her and kissed her cheek. “Thank you so much for everything.”
Sergei hugged and kissed her, too.
Her eyes were shining when she swatted Alex on the butt with a dishtowel. “Get outta here. And if you’re going to, um, express your love for each other, remember the walls are thin in these houses.”
“Screw that,” Annette yelled from the kitchen. “Keep the door open. Take pictures and snapchat me!”
“No problem,” Alex yelled back as Sergei pushed him up the stairs.
Alex fell face-down on the bed with a groan. “Good lord, I’m beat.”
Sergei sat down next to him, running a hand up and down his back. “Best party ever.”
Alex rolled over and grabbed Sergei’s hand. “I know I put you on the spot back there. But you did mean it, right? You really do want to marry me?”
Sergei drew Alex’s hand to his mouth. “I really do want to marry you. I love you. I have always loved you. I will always love you. You make everything new, better.”
Alex blinked at the tears filling his eyes. They slipped down his cheeks. It was almost too much to bear. “I love you, too. You make me a better person.” It might be trite, it might be a cliché, but it was true. He wanted to be the person Sergei thought he was.
Tugging Sergei down to the bed, Alex saw an imaginary panel of judges in his head holding up cards with a big number ten on them. Silently, he told them to fuck off. He was done being judged; more importantly, he was done judging himself. It was time for him to accept the grace he’d been granted and take a quadruple axel jump into the unknown.
He knew that whatever happened, Sergei would be there to pick him up when he fell.
Epilogue
SERGEI
Sergei had spent days trying to figure out how to surprise Alex. He’d come up with a sort of a plan, but when push came to shove, he just ended up telling Alex to do it because Sergei wanted him, too.
“It is bad luck to see the groom before the wedding,” he said, trying to slip a blindfold over Alex’s eyes. “You do not want bad luck, right?”
“But technically we’re already married,” Alex explained rationally. They’d gotten legally married down at the courthouse a few weeks ago. They’d waited for the adoption paperwork to go through before having a small party at the house for their closest friends.
Now they were officially a family. It was time to celebrate.
; “And it’s hot,” Alex continued. “Why would I want to put a sweatshirt over this fabulous suit?”
He had a point. Of course, Alex looked amazing in a black Italians silk suit tailored so perfectly to his body, Sergei was simultaneously jealous of the fabric and desperate to rip it off him.
He had been hoping Alex would simply give in and wear the hoodie he prepared without a fight but wasn't surprised when he didn’t. When did Alex ever make things easy?
“Please, Lyosha? I wear hoodie, too. And we match, like husband and husband.”
“I know you’re up to something; I just can’t figure out what. If I were going to wear a sweatshirt, I would have skipped the suit.” Alex grabbed Sergei’s hands. “Why do I need a blindfold?”
Sergei sighed. “If you wear blindfold now, I will wear it for you later. In bed.”
Alex slipped his suit jacket off and grabbed the blindfold from Sergei’s hands and tied it around his head himself. “Go for it. And I’m holding you to that.”
“I hope so.”
Sergei slipped the specially-prepared hoodie over Alex’s head, hoping he couldn’t feel the extra shirt tucked inside the sweatshirt.
Holding hands, they walked downstairs to meet the smiling faces of all their new and old family members. Sergei hoped someone took a picture of the look on Alex’s face when he saw the twins in their matching tuxedo onesies.
“Oh my God, Sergei, you didn’t!” he squealed. He grabbed the twins and kissed them. He frowned. “These feel funny. Where did you get them?”
Sergei pretended he hadn’t heard the question.
The ceremonial part of the evening was over pretty quickly. They stood in the front of the room and cut the small cake that Alex had ordered from some bakery. Alex’s parents cried when they signed the adoption papers that made them officially the Pergov-Stanton family.
Sergei and Alex cried, too. Again.
The twins got restless, so Sergei let them crawl around on the ground. They pulled themselves up on everything and anything they could reach: The couches, adults’ legs, the cats. Sergei really hoped they started walking soon. Everyone assured him that they were fine, they weren’t developmentally delayed.
“Just lazy,” Alex had said. “Probably genetic.”
“Can I take off the sweatshirt now?” Alex asked. “I’m dying. And the kids look like they are sweating, too.”
“Okay. Let me help you.” He reached under the sweatshirt, holding the surprise shirt while Alex stripped it off.
Alex looked down at what he was wearing. “Your Thunder jersey?” He checked the sleeves for Sergei’s #30.
“My new jersey,” Sergei corrected, turning his back to Alex to show off the Pergov-Stanton embroidered there.
Alex’s reaction was everything Sergei wanted. He teared up, covering his mouth with his hand. “Oh, Serhoya. It’s perfect.” Alex twisted, trying to see his reflection in the window. “Is mine the same?”
“It is,” Sergei assured him. “And look.” He swiveled Alex around to the room.
Daphneé and Kurt, Alex’s parents, had stripped the twins of their tuxedo jammies, revealing toddler-size Pergov-Stanton jersey.
“And that’s not all,” Zane said. Allie’s kids had been thrilled to be part of the party.
“Kitty shirts!” Daisy exclaimed, holding up two small shirts.
Alex burst out laughing until he sobbed. “It’s perfect,” he repeated. “Perfect. I love it. I love you. I love our family.”
“I love all of it, too.” He hugged Alex against him.
Alex’s family joined in the hug, and Sergei had never felt more loved in his life.
“Can we eat now?” Zane asked.
“Good question, little man,” Alex’s brother Laurent said.
“Yes, of course,” Alex said.
A feast prepared by Daphneé and Kurt covered the table. The centerpiece was the most intricate (and only) edible arrangement Sergei had ever seen.
“Dibs on the pineapple,” Alex said, reaching for the chocolate-covered fruit.
“Mommy, look!” All heads turned to where Daisy was pointing. Tatyana stood unaided in the middle of the floor. A look of fierce concentration on her face, she took one wobbly step, then another.
Sergei dropped to his knees a few feet in front of her, holding out his arms. “Come on, Tanyus’hka, you can do it! Come to poppa.”
With a huge grin, she staggered toward him like a tiny drunk person. Alex clapped once, and then stopped himself, afraid to startle her.
She was just reaching for Sergei’s outstretched hand, when David barreled into her from behind. She went sprawling facedown onto the carpet and burst out crying.
David started crying. The cats came flying in from wherever they had been to see what was wrong with their babies, and all the adults starting trying different things to stop the crying.
Sergei met Alex’s eyes across the room. It was chaos. It was theirs. It was perfect.
Also By A.E. Wasp
HOT OFF THE ICE
CITY BOY
COUNTRY BOY
SKATER BOY
BOY TOYS
BOY NEXT DOOR
BOYS OF SUMMER (MAY 2019)
HOT OFF THE ICE BOXED SET (BOOKS 1-3)
CHASING THE STORM (HIDDEN CREEK)
SCORE
TWENTY BUCKS (SHORT)
VETERANS AFFAIRS
INCOMING
CHRISTMAS OUTING
PAPER HEARTS
PAPER ROSES
MAN IN THE MIRROR (SHORT)
BRONZE STAR
SHOWTIME (SHORT)
THE COMPLETE VETERANS AFFAIRS BOXED SET
PROS & CONS
PROS & CONS OF VENGEANCE
PROS & CONS OF DECEPTION
STAND ALONES
BELIEVE (FROM HEART2HEART #1)
FAIRYTALE OF LAGUARDIA (WITH BETH BOLDEN)
About the Author
A dreamer and an idealist, Amy writes about people finding connection in a world that can seem lonely and magic in a world than can seem all too mundane. She invites readers into her characters’ lives and worlds when they are their most vulnerable, their most human, living with the same hopes and fears we all have. Avid traveler who has lived in big cities and small towns in four different continents, Amy has found that time and distance are no barriers to love. She invites her readers to reach out and share how her characters have touched their lives or how the found families they have gathered around them have shaped their worlds.
Born on Long Island, NY, Amy has lived in Los Angeles, London, and Bangkok. She currently lives in a town that looks suspiciously like Red Deer, Colorado.
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