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Rian looks at the little one impatiently wriggling in his arms. He tucks Bran closer, kissing his forehead. Bran’s eyelashes flutter, a featherlight caress on Rian’s cheek.
Little bird, Rian thinks to himself and buries his nose in the soft dark strands, slipping from underneath the tiny beanie Bran is wearing.
‘You smell like soft feathers and spring,’ Rian quietly murmurs to the little one.
Rian is lost forever. He belongs to Bran now. This child will be the reason behind everything he does from this day forward. The visceral need to protect Bran, to love him, is not something he gets to decide upon. Their hearts have chosen each other, and all Rian can do now is follow.
Movement in the bedroom reminds Rian that they are not alone, even if all else has faded once he has begun looking into Bran’s beautiful dark eyes. His husband is still there and the possibility of Harris taking Bran away from Rian is very much real.
Rian chances a look at Harris. He is a mess, completely unhinged and so damn angry. Rian must try his best to get through to him. Harris runs his shaking hands through his thick dark hair.
“Fuck!” He kicks the travel case one more time, completely splitting it open, his shirts spilling out of it all over the floor. “I can’t let him go to foster care. I’m only at the beginning of my campaign. If this gets out, I’ll never get the government grants I need for the business. I thought it was bad enough that she even existed, and now this!” He is making long strides, while fast approaching them jabbing his finger in the direction of the small bundle.
The sudden move alerts the child, getting baby Bran to shoot Harris an angry scowl and cry out. As if startled, Harris leans away, then takes a step back.
A retreat.
Rian watches on surprised by his reaction.
After a beat, Harris cups his face in his hands and groans, “What a fucking shitshow! Fuck my life. First, I get married to a useless cunt, then I get stuck with the black baby of my addict sister.”
Rian swallows hard. He couldn’t give a shit what Harris calls him anymore. Being called a useless cunt is one of the least insulting epithets his husband uses to address him.
Rian needs to act now.
Do something!
Say something!
“It will make you look good,” Rian summons the courage to mumble.
“What?” Harris snaps back at him.
Rian holds his ground, and with a tiny bit more nerve, clears his throat and explains, “I guess…I mean…” Rian hesitates briefly but then picks up his courage once more, spurred on by the warmth emanating from Bran. He tries again. “Well, we’ve been together for some years now. It’s only natural we consider having a baby. Obviously, this wasn’t planned, but you’ll look even more wholesome with a child on your knee.”
Harris glares at him, as those clearly are not the magic words. Rian scrambles to think of something else, refusing to give up so quickly. He hastily adds, “I can already imagine the press swooning over you. Your nephew will have the best opportunities in life. Just think about it – ‘Harris Kelly – a loving uncle, becomes a parent to his orphaned nephew overnight.’ If this doesn’t get you additional attention from the media, I don’t know what will. The press will eat it up! In fact, would the hospital perhaps agree to say, after a generous donation, that your sister Cynthia died during childbirth and not from an overdose?” Rian is disgusted with himself, absolutely sick of having to use manipulation to convince Harris there is a way to turn this around in his favor. But suddenly he is desperate and wants to do everything in his power to hold on to baby Bran. Twisting the truth is something he never thought he would do in such a self-serving manner, but he was frantically grasping at straws.
Rian had never met Cynthia. He was ashamed to admit to himself that he had hardly ever thought of her, taking Harris’s assessment of her at face value. According to him, she was a junkie, a whore, and a complete waste of space. Simply not worth talking about, Harris would often say. He openly blamed her for the death of his beloved nephew. He claimed her addiction was one of the main reasons Sebastian had been feeling so down and confused, spiraling into a destructive cycle and then finally taking his own life. Harris had seemed so heartbroken over his passing, that Ri never questioned his feelings about Cynthia.
Rian had his own views when it came to drug addicts, and perhaps that had clouded his judgment when he should have asked more questions and paid closer attention to the vague explanations Harris normally gave him.
Something changes in the expression on his husband’s face. He looks thoughtful, like the initial panic he had been feeling is slipping away, making space for a shrewder frame of mind. One Rian is much more accustomed to.
Rian gazes down at Brandon, who is still frowning back at Harris with unloving eyes. The tiny baby is gripping a bit of Rian’s T-shirt in his little fist, like he is staking a claim on him.
Harris walks away from them, leaving Rian alone to figure out how to settle this new child into their complicated life.
After a long conversation with his campaign manager, lawyer, and head of security Harris begrudgingly agrees with Rian and allows him to fuss over baby Brandon. He suspects the beating he received the week prior, as well as the fact Harris can’t afford any scandals or negative media exposure right now, has something to with it. Whatever the reason, Rian takes that one-in-a-lifetime chance and holds on to the child, vowing to be in his life forever.
* * *
As soon asRian stepped into his new role as a parent, Harris had no choice but to give him a lot more freedom of movement, including giving him his driver’s license and credit cards. Ri still had to jump through hoops, explaining himself about every dollar he spent, but that hardly mattered if he got to keep Bran. No matter how much Harris despised Rian, he wouldn’t trust anyone else into his home, for the sheer purpose of raising Bran.
Begrudgingly, Harris had set up a barrage of conditions Rian had to comply with, to accesshis own fucking moneyto some limited extent.
Harris is filthy rich. Money isn’t the problem. It was the humiliation of having to ask.
Rian hadn’t hesitated to accept all of the conditions, even if the ridiculousness of that arrangement left a bitter taste in his mouth.
