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“Are you going to open it?”

I ask Roddy.

His finger hovers over the Enter key.

He’s worked so hard, even though it was a struggle at times.

The truculent teenager came out on more than a few occasions, but I enjoy seeing the emotions of a person his age.

Such a difference from the worn-out, street-smart kid he was when I first met him.

“Go on, son. You don’t have to be worried. You did all the hard work.”

Roddy turns to Ben, my husband, and officially his dad.

I’m his dad too.

Asking him if he would be interested in becoming our son is a memory I’ll never forget.

Nor will the conversation our solicitor had with his biological father.

He wasn’t happy with the idea until we suggested—a veiled threat, really—that we might involve the police and tell them of the abuse Roddy suffered.

After that, it was plain sailing.

We both took Ben’s surname—Jerrick. I was more than happy to get rid of Palmer and the memories of my father.

“Okay, I’m going to do it.”

With a satisfying prod on the key, Roddy’s results came up. “Holy shit! I passed them.”

He beams at me, then looks back to the grades. “Two sixes for maths and science, and fuck me, a seven in English. Maybe the books weren’t too bad after all.”

“Congratulations! That’s fantastic, Roddy. I’m so proud of you.”

I hug him. Ben grabs him from me and does the same.

“We need to celebrate. What do you feel like doing?” Ben asks.

Roddy’s cheeks pink. I already know what he’s going to say. “I’ve kinda made plans to see Luke. Is that okay?”

When Roddy would come to the surgery, the two men started as friends. I’m not sure when it changed into something else, something more. We never discussed his sexuality. I had no clue about his preferences; it never felt important to ask.

“Of course we can do something tomorrow. We can go out for drinks after work,”

I say. “Go and call Luke. He’ll want to know your results.”

The fact that he’s eighteen, coming up for nineteen and only doing three GCSEs embarrassed him, but he’s decided on going to the same catering college as Ben and needed to get some exams under his belt. He has a talent to rival Ben’s, which means I never go hungry, and neither do the staff at the surgery. Maeve still complains that she’s always putting on weight when Roddy brings in new samples for her to try.

After Roddy goes to his room, Ben reaches for me. “I felt like I aged ten years waiting for him to press the key.”

With his arms wrapped around my neck, we line up chest to chest and hip to hip. The passion and love I have for him has never waned. If anything, it has got stronger. “We can do some celebrating ourselves. If he’s going to be out for the night, we can be as loud as we want.”

He tilts his hips forward, pressing his growing erection against my own. “Hmm, I like the sound of that. What time do you think he’ll be gone?”

“Can’t you two wait till I leave?”

Roddy grumbles, but he’s grinning. “I’m going now. I’m staying at Luke’s tonight. And don’t ask. You know the answer is yes.”

“There’s nothing embarrassing about being safe and prepared,”

Ben says, knowing how much this winds him up.

“When it’s your dad asking, then yes, it’s embarrassing. Have fun.”

“You too. And, Roddy…”

I wait for him to turn back. “Well done, buddy. Go have fun, but be home by ten tomorrow morning, please. There’s something we need to show you.”

“Do you want a lift over?” Ben asks.

“Um, no, it’s okay. I can walk.”

Roddy passed his driving test in the spring and has been saving for a car so he can get back and forth from college to here. He works in the café at the weekends, and he wants to see Luke.

“Okay, see you tomorrow.”

I follow him to the front door. “What are you doing?”

He gives us a weird look. “Why are you grinning? Stop it. It’s creepy.”

We wait behind him when he opens the door, then stops. “What the fuck is that?”

He spins his head around so fast I’m surprised he hasn’t hurt his neck.

“What?”

Ben asks innocently.

“That!”

He points. “That car!”

The big blue ribbon on the little bright red car shines in the sunshine. “Oh, that. It’s for you. Congratulations.”

He holds up a set of keys.

“Oh my god, you are the best dads in the whole world. Really, though, this is just for me? I don’t have to share it with you?”

“Nope, just for you, but please be careful. Don’t have the music too loud, and speed limits are there for a reason.”

Both Roddy and I roll our eyes, but Roddy’s lost for words. He looks at the car again and shakes his head. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you.”

His voice is low, croaky with repressed emotion.

“Oh, I don’t know, set off to travel over five hundred miles in the winter to find us. We are the lucky ones.”

I let him hug me again, his head against my chest as he has a cry. He hates being reminded of his past, but it’s the past that brought him here and made us the luckiest dads alive.

“Thank you,”

he mumbles, then straightens and wipes his face. “Luke won’t believe this.”

We watch him drive away. I see the concentration on his face. He’ll be okay.

“Now back to us.”

Ben grabs my hand and drags me to the stairs. “It’s time for some loud and messy sex.”

“Amen to that.”

When I put the phone down, Jethro’s watching me. “What was that about?”

“It was the solicitor who helped us with Roddy’s adoption. He works for the social services sometimes, dealing with the crap we had. He’s been handed the case of a teenager, one who had the same sort of life as Roddy.”

Fury flashes over Jethro’s face as if he’d been electrocuted. “He wants to know if we would be interested in fostering him.”

“How old is he? I mean, it doesn’t matter, but did he tell you?”

“He’s fifteen. He’s in a children’s home but needs to be somewhere away from other kids. He isn’t coping there.”

“Where’s Roddy? Is he at Luke’s? We need to talk to him about it. We’re only just getting our house back, with Roddy at college in the week. Do you think we should?”

“Can you imagine leaving him there?”

Jethro shakes his head. “No, but it’s a family decision. I’ll call Roddy.”

As Jethro calls our son, my mind is back to Roddy and the state he was in when he got here. How nervous he was around everyone he met. He would hide food in case he had to leave so he’d have enough to eat for a while. I doubt this kid has made the ridiculously dangerous journey Roddy did. But kids will do desperate things in desperate times.

“He’s on his way back.”

When Roddy joins us, I tell him what I know. He’s tormenting his bottom lip with his finger and thumb, something he hasn’t done for a long time. “What do you want me to say?”

“We want your opinion, Rod. This is a family decision because it affects all of us. We don’t know how he’s coping mentally or what state he’s in physically. But the solicitor called us for a reason. He thinks we have something to offer this boy.”

“I don’t see how you can’t. He needs a safe home, and this is the safest I know. You helped me, and I thought I was a lost cause. Maybe he feels the same way too.”

“You’re right, but you were never a lost cause.”

“I felt I was.”

“Okay, I’ll call the solicitor back and set up a meeting.”

Roddy shakes his head.

“What?”

“If they need a safe place for him this urgently, they’ll be bringing him here tonight. I’ve read about this happening to kids.”

“Seriously?”

Jethro says. “Are we going to say yes? I mean, it’s only to foster, right?”

I don’t think so. If the kid needs a good home, and if he likes us, obviously, our house will be his forever home. Jethro has a heart of gold and will always be grateful for his mother’s only decent act of stopping his father from throwing him out. This is his way of paying it forward. His heart is too big not to give one hundred per cent of himself.

“Right.”

I open up my phone and call the solicitor back. Roddy and Jethro stand together, looking like they’re holding their breaths. “Mr Andrews, it’s Ben Jerrick.”

“Thank you for getting back to me so promptly. Have you come to a decision?”

“We have, and yes, we’re willing to help.”

A whoosh of breath escapes me as I listen to his instructions.

Roddy was right. At six o’clock, there’s a knock on the door. Jethro gives my hand a squeeze and opens it. In front of us is a scared-looking kid, looking two kind words away from breaking down.

Roddy steps forward. “Hey, it’s Connor, right? I’m Roddy. These”—he jerks his thumb over his shoulder—“are my dads. They’re cool.”

The lad lifts his head, surprise flickering in his eyes. “Dads?”

The man with him places a hand on Connor’s shoulder, and he flinches but doesn’t move away. “Shall we go inside?”

We let them in. Roddy falls in step with the boy, and I don’t think I’ve ever loved him more.

The social worker seems to be in a hurry to leave. After giving us a quick rundown of Connor’s background, he gives Connor a brief smile and leaves.

“Are you hungry, Connor?”

I ask, going to my default of trying to feed everyone.

“Conn,”

he says softly. “I don’t like Connor.”

“No problem. Why don’t you come into the kitchen? And I can find you something to eat. What do you like?”

“Anything. I don’t mind.”

His voice is so quiet. “But I like burgers.”

“Perfect. I’ll make some. Roddy will have some too. He’s got hollow legs or something. Maybe because he was so thin when he came to us.”

“Was he like me?”

“You should ask him about his story. It’s not mine to tell. You’re safe here, though. In case you were wondering.”

Jethro walks in and smiles at Conn. “Would you like to see your room?”

We sold both our houses and bought a bigger one. I wanted a fully equipped chef’s kitchen, and we wanted more and bigger bedrooms. Less need for noise-cancelling headphones, Jethro said, poking fun at Roddy.

“Does it have a lock?”

he asks as they walk away.

I hate the thought of why he needs that. I make the burgers and wait for them to come back.

Conn’s eyes go wide again when he sees the meal I’ve made. “Whoa, that’s amazing. Do you make them, like not from the freezer?”

“Dad’s a chef, and I’m at college learning the same. You’ll never go hungry here.”

Roddy sits down at the table.

“Why do I have to go to school? I hate it. I always get bullied,”

Conn grumbles as we look at the school uniform site. This is a new school for him, and as much as he’s settled in with us, he’s still nervous around strangers and hates any kind of raised voices or shouting or loud noises.

He’s been with us for two weeks now, and he’s doing okay. The first couple of nights, he had terrible nightmares, and we had to ask him not to lock the door. He had a mini tantrum over that, but he agreed in the end because he understood we only wanted to get to him if he needed us. He eats anything and everything we give him, but he hasn’t quite got used to the open larder and that he can grab what he wants.

“It will be fine. It’s not a huge school, and both Jethro and I went to it. Admittedly, a very long time ago, but Luke went to it too.”

Conn has attached himself to Roddy as much as he can and loves hanging out with him and Luke. “Fine, but I’m not wearing those trousers. I want the skinny-leg ones.”

A week later, the three of us walk into the secondary school. The same one Jamie worked in all those years ago. “Are you sure you want us to come in?”

Jethro asks.

“Yes, please,”

he says, looking a little pale.

The headmaster greets us. With him is a man I never wanted to see again. “This is Mr Hill. He’s head of your year and your tutor group. I think you’ll get along well in his class.”

Instead of saying hello to Conn, Jamie is staring at Jethro and me. He looks me up and down, then focuses on my wedding ring. A blush runs up his neck as he catches me staring back. Like a switch flicked, he turns to Conn. “It’s good to meet you, Connor.”

“It’s Conn,”

Jethro and I say at the same time.

“We’ll see you this afternoon, Conn. Have you got everything, your phone and keys?”

He rolls his eyes the way Roddy does, but his smile gives away how happy he is with us. My heart swells with love for the boy.

“I’m guessing that Mr Hill happens to be the ex?”

Jethro chuckles as we get back in our car. “He didn’t look very happy with us.”

“As long as he’s good with Conn, I don’t care.”

“I now pronounce you husband and husband.”

I’m on my feet, clapping and whistling as Roddy and Luke kiss for the first time as a married couple. Ben is wiping his tears away as the two men make their way back down the aisle.

I grab Ben’s hand and pull him close for a kiss, then wipe my eyes.

“You two are such saddos,”

Conn says as he walks past.

The young man who turned up a nervous, frightened fifteen-year-old is now our son. We adopted him a year after he came to live with us, and he’s following in my footsteps and is studying to be a vet. He has both boyfriends and girlfriends, thankfully not at the same time.

Ben stands next to me as everyone leaves to congregate outside in the gorgeous summer sunshine. I wait until the room is empty, then take stock of my surroundings. A laugh bubbles through me.

“Why are you laughing?” Ben asks.

“I’m just thinking of my old man and how he would feel knowing his gay son is at the wedding of his gay son just feet away from where he tried to beat it out of me. I hope he’s rolling in his damn grave or burning just a little more in hell. Because right here, right now, my life is coming full circle.”

“I love you, Jethro Jerrick.”

Ben kisses me but is smiling against my lips.