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“I tried,” Talon drawled, eyeing his brother, surprised he was adding cream, before grabbing his own coffee and sitting back down. He focused on Richard. “Well?”
Richard shrugged. “I saw Gregory yesterday. But I don’t think I needed to say it officially. I imagine Charles told him.”
Talon grinned. “I think walking in on you all in bed at Connie’s afterwards kind of confirmed it if he was in any doubt.” Richard seemed to swallow and inhale at the same time then had to stand and grab tissues for his streaming eyes.
“What did I say?” Talon asked innocently, secretly enjoying every second of filial payback.
“I’m not.” He coughed. “I don’t even know how it’s gonna work. We need a house.”
Talon arched an eyebrow—the one Finn insisted he was quite famous for. “I would have thought you just needed a big bed.”
Richard grinned. “Maybe, but there’s all the stuff with Adam. I know it’s weighing him down. And I know Sam’s dealing with it.”
“You mean his record? The fostering thing?”
Richard nodded, and Talon understood. At the moment, with Adam’s convictions, officially Kai wasn’t even allowed to stay a night while Adam was there, and even though Sam was confident he could get Adam’s convictions overturned it would still take time. “We’ve talked and decided we need at least a year to understand how our relationship is gonna work, get a house. It’s going well, and we both tell him this, but Adam still thinks he’s holding us back, and it’s not that any of us are desperate to bring a child into our relationship quite yet, it’s just Kai.”
“I thought he was good staying with Liam?”
Richard nodded. “Very much so. I think they enjoy each other’s company and even though they don’t go to the same school because Liam’s this mini-genius, it’s rubbing off on Kai, and he’s beginning not to resent school quite so much. It’d just be nice to have them both over on weekends sometimes. Maybe take them to see a game, you know?”
“The three musketeers,” Talon quipped. It’s what Vance called Kai, Liam, and Luis.
“It’s hard with work and everything. Sawyer’s still settling into his new job, and we have to navigate personal stuff.”
“Tell me about it,” Talon said quietly, and Richard immediately picked up on it.
“Wedding woes?”
“Not just.” Talon knew Finn was desperate to have a family. He always had been, and he knew Finn would make the best dad. It was just that every time they thought they were getting somewhere, something happened. If it wasn’t work, it was something else. They’d just signed on a house though, so that was a start. “Don’t tell the team, but we even talked about surrogates, but they’re ridiculously expensive.”
Richard raised his eyebrows.
“And don’t get me wrong, Finn wants every single foster-child he meets. I think as soon as we move in he’ll fill it with a football team of kids. He just wants a baby as well, and thinks if he voices it, he’s betraying every foster kid in the entire country.”
Richard put a hand out and squeezed his brother’s arm, a small sign of affection they both enjoyed relearning with each other. “You know there’s not one person on the team that would—”
“Oh, I know,” Talon agreed, hurriedly. “It’s his own guilt he’s battling. Everyone wants babies. We even looked at international adoption, but”—he gestured to his face—“that’s a no go because of me.”
“That sucks.” Talon knew Richard had seen enough orphans in third-world countries to understand.
Talon changed the subject. “Mother called yesterday.” Because the new vice president-elect was a fan of the team and since his mother was a fan of the vice president-elect, she was trying to steer them into a whole shooting match of a wedding. He’d happily just go find a judge, but Finn was thick as thieves with Connie and had ignored the wedding planner his mother sent round. Finn seemed to be enjoying every moment of the planning without anyone else. And as far as he was concerned, he would agree to anything that made Finn happy. To be honest, he would love to whisk Finn away to an exotic beach somewhere, but since the enhanced still weren’t allowed to fly except for work, it would be an awkward honeymoon for one. They could do the US, sure, but Talon wanted to make it something special for Finn. The laws were changing, though. Just not soon enough for a honeymoon.
And he didn’t want his mother anywhere near his wedding. On the surface, he’d forgiven her for locking him up as a child when he got his mark, but deep down?Not a chance.If anyone had to help organize this shindig, he would much rather it be Vance’s mom. Connie was a mom to them all.
“The most important thing I guess is him actually turning up.”
For a second Talon considered setting Richard on fire but Richard grinned and said, “I meant keeping him away from car jackers or bank robbers.” Talon sighed. It was a valid point.
“I suggested that he should have one of the team accompany him every day between now and the wedding and he didn’t like that idea,” Talon admitted.
“Ah,” Richard said in understanding. “You mean the door slamming wasn’t because he was in a hurry?”
Talon scrubbed his face. “I think he’s more angry with himself because we got engaged in the ER at Tampa Gen.”
Richard smiled in bemusement. “So, the real trick is to make sure you don’t get married there?”
“Don’t even joke about it,” Talon snapped, then stood and threw his coffee down the sink. His phone started buzzing and he saw it was Finn and answered immediately. “Problem?”
