Laurell Hamilton - Affliction

Fen called back over her shoulder, his arms wrapped around her neck, and asked his question a second time. ‘Are you my big brother, too?’

Micah turned to look at his mother as he answered the little boy, ‘Yes, I think I am.’

Bea Morgan reached for her husband’s hand and looked guilty.

‘Mom, Ty, what is going on?’

Ty stood there straight and tall with an almost defiant look on his face. Bea clung to his hand and looked beseechingly at her son. ‘It just sort of happened,’ she said.

‘Frost isn’t Ty’s, is she?’ he asked.

‘She is my daughter,’ Ty said, ‘but biologically probably not.’

‘What do you mean, biologically?’ he asked.

‘Mike, please, don’t be mad. I thought you’d be better than Jerry about it, because you have two people, too.’ Her voice sounded apologetic and not sure of itself at all.

The doorbell sounded. Bea went for the door, as if happy to have an excuse to be away from Micah. Bram shadowed her to the door without anyone telling him to; you never left a door totally unguarded, especially if it was about to open. Micah was still trying to deal with the last few minutes. His father hadn’t been the heartbroken abandoned spouse but had been at least sleeping with his ex-wife part time. There was an implication of much more.

Nathaniel and I had moved up beside Micah, but I honestly wasn’t sure what to say. The look on his face said that part of his family history had just imploded. Nathaniel touched his arm. Micah didn’t seem to notice.

It was Jerry at the door. ‘You guys never lock the door until bedtime. What’s up?’

‘I didn’t lock it,’ Bea said.

‘We did,’ Bram said.

Jerry looked up at the taller man. ‘Why?’

‘A locked door gives us a few more seconds to react,’ Bram said.

‘React to what?’ Jerry asked.

‘Anything.’

Jerry shook his head and looked past everyone to Micah, who was looking at his brother now. ‘The look on your face; you met Frost?’

‘Yes,’ Micah said in a voice that was almost strangled with tension.

‘Surprise!’ Jerry said, arms wide in a ta-da motion.

‘You could have warned me.’

Jerry shook his head. ‘Oh, no, wouldn’t dream of it. This isn’t my explanation to give, I wouldn’t even try.’

‘Be nice, Jerry,’ Bea said.

‘Why? I didn’t know until Frost was three. I can’t believe I was so stupid.’

‘Jerry …’ Bea began.

‘No, Mom, just explain to Mike. I’m still working my own issues on this one.’ He moved until he was in front of Micah. ‘We both felt so sorry for Dad, remember. We were so mad at Mom for leaving him for the professor here, and all the time they were still seeing each other, still a couple.’

‘That’s not true,’ Bea said. ‘At first it was everything you thought it was. I loved Rush, but I couldn’t live with him anymore. I met Ty while we were separated. Rush could have dated, too, but he chose not to.’

‘He was waiting for you to come to your senses and come home, or let him come back home,’ Micah said, and that edge of old resentment was suddenly very clear in his voice. Some issues stay fresh every time you open them up. It’s like evil magical Tupperware – it stays fresh forever.

‘You are thirty years old, Micah David Callahan, too old to believe I can fix something that broke when you were twelve.’

Micah looked a little embarrassed but said, ‘So did you cheat on Ty with Dad, or what?’

She looked back at Ty, and he moved up to take her hand again. ‘She never stopped loving Rush, and by the time you left for good he was spending more time over here with us and the boys.’

‘I remember Twain’s fourth birthday party. I was so proud of all of you for being grown-up enough to give the younger kids such a family occasion.’

‘Yeah,’ Jerry said, ‘but what you and I didn’t know was that Dad was sleeping over.’

‘That long ago?’ Micah asked.

Jerry nodded.

‘You want to tell this story?’ Bea asked Jerry.

‘Nope,’ he said, and flopped down on the nearest couch.

‘Then stop interrupting,’ she said.

He spread his hands wide, as if to say, Sure, go ahead, I’m out of it.

She turned back to Micah and the rest of us. ‘I didn’t think I’d have quite this big an audience for the story.’

Bram said, ‘We can wait in the kitchen if you like.’

‘Thank you,’ she said.

He and Ares went for the bar stools around the kitchen. Nicky and Dev looked at me. I nodded, and they went to join them. I didn’t have the heart to tell Bea that with their more-than-human senses they’d hear everything she said anyway. Sometimes illusion is all the comfort you get for stories like this.

We all sat down on the nearly perfect square of couches. Ty and Bea were on one couch. The three of us sat on the couch opposite them. Jerry moved to the love seat that sat between them both. When we looked at him, he said, ‘I want to see everyone’s faces.’

‘Jerry, this is not a show for your entertainment,’ Ty said.

‘I just want to see one of my siblings learn about all of this the way I did, that’s all.’

‘Beth knew sooner?’ Micah asked.

‘She was only twelve ten years ago. She lived with Mom. When I asked her after I found out why she hadn’t told me, do you know what she said?’

‘No,’ Micah said.

‘She liked having Dad here in the mornings and everyone having coffee together. She said it felt like home. You and I lost everything we thought was safe, but little sister got a second bite at the apple.’

‘I don’t resent Beth and Dad being happy,’ Micah said.

‘I do,’ Jerry said, ‘because I was still on his side about the divorce, and all the time they were shacking up. He let me be all sympathetic and it was all a lie.’

‘It wasn’t a lie,’ Ty said.

‘Well, it wasn’t the truth either,’ Jerry said.

Ty didn’t have an answer for that.

Bea tried. ‘You have Anita and Nathaniel in your life, and I have Ty and Rush in mine.’

‘I only have one wife, not two,’ Jerry said.

‘You barely have enough social skills for one,’ Beth said, as she walked in from the hallway. She looked at Bea. ‘I’ve got Twain reading the kids a story.’

‘Good,’ Bea said.

Beth sat down on the love seat beside Jerry, and though she wouldn’t have said it out loud the way he had, I was betting she wanted a good view, too.

Micah laid a hand on both our thighs and we automatically covered his hands with ours. ‘Yes, they are both in my life,’ he said, ‘but it was that way from the moment I met them. We’ve always been a threesome, sometimes more.’ I wasn’t sure if he added that last bit of truth to shock, because two of the extra people were listening, or so that later no one could accuse him of leaving stuff out. It didn’t matter; they ignored it. Maybe they felt that explaining themselves was enough for one day. I was all for waiting to try to explain the entirety of our love lives. I wasn’t ashamed of what we were doing, but it was a lot to explain. One long story at a time; we still had to get dinner before heading back to the hospital. We’d save our romantic epic for another night.

‘I loved Rush, but we couldn’t live together. I fell in love with Ty, but I missed Rush.’ She wrapped both her smaller hands around his one larger hand and smiled up at him. It was a look of love, but I thought it might have been more a reassurance to the man at her side. Maybe that was just me overthinking.

Bea looked at me and said, ‘I know you understand what I’m talking about.’

What I wanted to say was, Don’t drag me into this , but Micah squeezed my hand, which let me know not to say the first thing that came to mind. Prospective in-laws needed gentler handling than my usual. ‘It wasn’t exactly like that with Micah and Nathaniel.’ In my head, I thought that was more like Jean-Claude and Richard, back when the latter was more in our lives, but since that hadn’t worked out well, I kept my mouth shut again.