Page 65 of Habibi: Always and Forever
FAMILY PICNIC
T here was nothing like a sunny, autumn afternoon in Kent.
Especially when an odd warm day slipped in amongst the blustery ones in early October.
The gardens around the Hawthorne Community Arts Center were bursting with yellow and russet leaves and blooms, and Rhys Hawthorne had had a couple of his children’s painting classes make a mural on newsprint that ran the entire length of the downstairs hallway in Hawthorne House to bring that outdoor cheeriness inside.
Robbie’s pottery class had taken to decorating thrown pots with leaf and flower imprints, and even Rafe and Jake had broken out all the shades of fall-colored frit that their glassblowing hotshop had in stock.
Nick, on the other hand, was glad he was only teaching his forging classes in the morning that session.
He usually loved hammering away at his forge as the weather cooled down.
It meant he didn’t overheat as much as he worked with molten metal, and there was just something cozy about a hot forge in contrast to a cool day.
But on that day in particular, he’d come up with other plans.
“Let’s take the kids out for a picnic,” he said to Bax as he got out of the shower after cleaning up from his morning class.
Bax eyed him with the hungry look Nick had come to love so well in the last few months—and who would have ever guessed that he, a big bear of a guy who had always thought he was straight, would love having a gorgeous, eclectic man like Baxter Hawthorne eye-fuck him like that—and sidled closer to slip his arms around Nick’s solid frame.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay inside and enjoy this lovely afternoon from a horizontal position?” Bax asked, his eyes glimmering with lust.
Nick laughed deeply, a little bit awkward and a whole lot turned on, and pulled Bax closer so he could slant his mouth over Bax’s in a hot kiss. Several months ago, kissing Bax had felt strange. Now it was the very best thing in the world to him.
Well, almost. There were some other things the two of them got up to that were even better.
Oh, and, yeah, seeing his kids, Jordan and Macy, happy and thriving was pretty awesome, too.
Speaking of which….
“Picnic,” he growled, inching back from Bax but keeping his arms around him.
He cleared his throat, shifted a bit so his growing erection wouldn’t dislodge the towel around his waist, and went on with, “It’s too beautiful a day to miss out on.
And if we play our cards right and let the kids run around, they’ll tire themselves out and we can have some ‘Daddy and Uncle Bax’ time together. ”
Bax hummed and swept Nick’s chest and shoulders with another look. When he dragged his eyes up to meet Nick’s again, he said, “That sounds lovely. Particularly the tired kids part.”
Nick laughed, kissed Bax again soundly, then stepped away so he could walk to his bureau and grab clean clothes.
Bax had been uncertain about dating a man with toddlers when they’d first gotten together, but Jordan and Macy were his family, since Raina, his late wife, was Bax’s cousin, and once Bax had gotten used to the kids’ routine, it turned out he was a really good caretaker.
Even though he was technically “Cousin Bax”, “Uncle Bax” felt much more natural to everyone.
“I’ll pop over to Aunt Janice and Uncle Robert’s flat and grab the kids,” Bax said, heading for the door as Nick threw on some clothes. “But if I had my choice, I’d rather stay here,” he said with a purr, arching an eyebrow at Nick’s backside as Nick whipped his towel off and tossed it on the bed.
“Later,” Nick laughed, stroking a hand provocatively down his thigh, near his semi. “I promise you.”
“I’ll hold you to that promise,” Bax said with extra camp before sashaying away.
Nick chuckled and shook his head. Nope, a year ago, he would never have dreamed his life would be so good.
He’d been mourning Raina’s death, still, and struggling to raise their two kids on his own.
Or, at least, as alone as it was possible to be while living at Hawthorne House.
He had most of the rest of the Hawthorne family living around him in the flats that had been created in that wing of the house when the whole, ancient estate had been renovated a few decades before.
He never could have imagined having so much help or fullness in his life, and he absolutely never would have imagined being so in love with a man.
Or considering what he was hoping to do on their picnic that afternoon.
Once he was dressed, before heading out to his kitchen to put together a quick picnic for two adults and two toddlers, Nick pulled open the top drawer of his bureau.
He glanced over his shoulder like he was about to get into trouble, even though he knew Bax was downstairs and at the other end of the wing, then pulled out a small, velvet bag from underneath his old underwear.
He opened it and slipped its contents into his hand, just to be sure it was ready.
Nick was a blacksmith, a forger, but as soon as he’d become certain of his feelings for Bax, he’d started secretly taking a few jewelry-making classes.
The principles were the same, they just happened on a much smaller scale.
The ring that rested weightily in his palm was his fifth attempt at creating exactly what he wanted to see circling Bax’s finger, but it was definitely the best. He’d managed to twine the three colors of gold perfectly to make an intricate pattern, then burnished it until the ring shone.
He just hoped it was the right size, but seeing as he’d secretly borrowed one of Bax’s other rings while making it, he figured things would be okay.
With another glance over his shoulder, he slipped the ring into his jeans pocket, then strode out of his room and through the flat to the hallway, his heart beating double-time.
Part of him couldn’t believe he was about to propose to someone again.
He’d always thought he’d only propose once, to Raina, but the things he felt for Bax now were just too big not to put a ring on it.
“You look like you’re ready to have a fabulous afternoon,” Janice Hawthorne, matriarch of the Hawthorne family, told Nick with a sly look as she handed a wiggling Macy into his arms.
Janice knew something. Janice always knew something.
“It’s too beautiful out there not to enjoy it,” Nick said with a tight smile. He was trying to play things cool, which guaranteed that he looked like a constipated wallaby.
“Jordan has been helping me and Grandma put together our lunch,” Bax said from the table, where Jordan, who had just turned four, was giggling as he literally threw wrapped sandwiches into a cool bag. “We’ve got everything we’ll need, sandwiches, crisps, juice boxes?—”
“Perhaps you could throw in a bottle of wine,” Janice suggested with a teasing smirk, “some chocolate covered strawberries, which I happened to know are Nick’s favorites.”
“Bawberries!” Jordan exclaimed with a gasp, looking up from the cool bag. “Bawberries are my favowits,” he said, mimicking his grandma.
“Alright, we’ll throw in some strawberries, too,” Nick laughed, shifting Macy to his other hip. “But not the wine.” Even though it would have been nice to toast with…if things went right.
“Strawberries it is,” Bax said with an unsuspecting smile, stepping over to the refrigerator to take out a container of berries. “Or rather, bawberries,” he said, winking at Jordan.
Jordan giggled harder and held out his arms for Bax once the strawberries were in the cool bag.
Bax scooped the boy up without a lick of hesitation, which warmed Nick’s hard even more.
Yes, Bax had come so far in the last several months.
They’d each had to face their challenges when it came to being together, and they still clashed sometimes on those things that didn’t come naturally to them, but Nick wouldn’t have wanted his life to be any other way now.
Janice helped them finish packing up the picnic and pulled out an old blanket for them.
In no time, they headed outside and walked around the back of Hawthorne House, through the rose garden, which still looked surprisingly good in the autumn, and onto the main path that would lead them away from the house and out to the hills that had once been tenant farms.
“It’s days like this that I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming,” Nick said as they headed up a gently-sloping hill to a grassy spot that was dappled with shade from a few ancient-growth trees that stood at the edge of the woods.
“I know what you mean,” Bax said, “and I grew up with all this available to me.”
“But you and your siblings didn’t grow up at Hawthorne House,” Nick said.
Bax shrugged. “No, but once Uncle Robert finished the renovations, we visited fairly frequently. I always begged Mum and Dad to let me stay.”
“And now here you are,” Nick said, grinning as they put everything, including the kids, down so they could spread the picnic blanket.
“Here I am,” Bax said, grinning across the large, checked cloth at Nick.
Setting up the picnic was so much more of an ordeal than it would have been without the kids.
Macy was new to the whole walking thing, but it was all she wanted to do, especially when that involved chasing Jordan around.
Jordan seemed to think the way Nick and Bax shook the blanket out was his invitation to run under it…
over and over and over. Nick was caught between loving the sight of his children so happy and free and exasperated, because he just wanted to sit down and eat.
Finally, once the blanket was spread, the kids had run around in the grass for a few minutes, picking up acorns from the ancient trees, throwing them, then being scolded for throwing them, everyone settled in to eat sandwiches in relative peace.