She leaned her head on his shoulder and smiled. “I love family.”
“Me too, Evie. Me too.”
***
Evie sprawled on top of her pastel striped sheet in her favorite kitty print pajamas, her tired eyes closed at last. It had been a busy day interrupted by the emergency call from Sam’s job, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Somehow our hectic schedules worked for us. We still found plenty of time to spend together. Thursdays stuck as family outing day, and we often shared it with other LGBTQ+ parents we’d added to a circle of friends over the months.
I crept out of Evie’s room, peeked into the living room and, not seeing Sam, headed for our bedroom. We’d moved into a bigger two-bedroom apartment in the late summer and put everything we could aside for a house in the next three years. Time went so quickly. Evie hadn’t even started walking when I met Sam, and now she ran circles around us.
Sam leaned against our headboard, his freckled chest bare and his slim legs stretched out and crossed at the ankle. A tiny pair of thin turquoise briefs barely covered his bulge. He chuckled at my strangled moan.
“Damn, baby. You look delicious.” I wasted no time taking off all my clothes and climbing onto the bed next to him.
He ran his palm slowly down his chest to rest at the wide waistband. “You can taste anything you want.” He rolled on his side and pressed against me. “And then I’ll do the same for you. It’s been a while since we really got to take our time.”
Busy schedules led to fatigue at the end of the day, and lack of regular work hours for either of us made quality time a precious commodity. We claimed Thursday afternoons barring any emergencies and managed another outing at least every other week. Neither Sam nor I yearned for busy social lives. Quiet evenings on the couch worked.
Mostly quiet nights in bed worked, too. Bitten lips, gentle hands over gaping mouths, kisses swallowing the sounds of our fire-hot passion.
My hand gravitated naturally to Sam’s firm cheek covered in thin jersey, and I squeezed, fingertips skating along his crease. “What do you want tonight, baby?” Sam pulled away from me so quickly I jerked in surprise. “What’s wrong?”
He chuckled and kissed my collar bone. “Nothing’s wrong.” Our eyes met again, his pouring out pure emotion at me. Even in the dim light of our bedroom, they gleamed with pure love. “Nothing at all is wrong, Gil. Everything is perfect.” He pressed his lips to mine before drawing back again. “Well, there is one thing…”
Didn’t he know by now that I’d give him anything within my power? “What is it?”
Sam’s gaze flicked away, and he bit his lip.
I eased it loose with my thumb and tilted his head toward mine.
“I had this dream,” he began as he cuddled tight in the circle of my arms. “We were in this beautiful garden full of flowers and butterflies, like the ones on Evie’s favorite shirt. Evie was dancing around, and you called out not to run off too far. She came back and we all sat down together on a bench.” His voice trailed off again.
I didn’t know why he wanted to tell me about his dream instead of having sex at that moment, but if it was important to him, it was important to me. I shifted until his head rested against my shoulder, one slim thigh tucked over mine.
“Evie climbed on my lap,” he continued after a deep breath, “and you were holding a tiny boy with red hair and the biggest, brightest eyes.” Sam’s own eyes squeezed shut, and his hand trembled against my ribs.
Silence spun out as I tried to take in what he just told me. Sure, we couldn’t control our dreams, but that didn’t mean they didn’t mean something. Ever-so-slowly, I eased back so I could look into his eyes. “Sam, do you want another baby?”
“I mean, not right now. Or, well… I know it’s something that requires a lot of discussion and planning. We can’t do it like other couples, you know?”
Chuckling, I tilted my hips to gently grind against his hip. “We can have fun trying.” He groaned, but I wouldn’t let the topic pass. “Sam, I want to make all your dreams come true if I can. You know that, right?” When he nodded, I kissed him before going on. “It’s definitely something to talk about. I think Evie would be a great big sister.”
The whole wide future spun out before us, and we could make it exactly what we wanted together. All the twists and turns of the unplanned past brought us there to that moment in time. We’d have a million things to talk about and decide as the days, months, and years go by, but there was no use wasting one moment.
With that thought echoing in my mind, I got busy making that night’s dreams a reality. I had no doubt that we could make all of them come true together, forever.
***
