Page 11 of The Homecoming: The Island

“How did you find this out? Please, don’t tell me you checked Gavin’s phone, this is…” Seeing the mix of guilt and pain in the other man’s turquoise eyes, Daniel cut himself off, sighing. “I can’t say I don’t understand you, I would have probably done the same. What were the messages about?”

“Gavin obsessively kept asking Jeroen if he was all right, and your son answered positively. Also, they talked about nightmares; apparently, Jeroen suffered a severe breakdown while on the island, and Gavin was afraid his sleep may be plagued by bad dreams about it.” Dunstan let out a long, heavy sigh. “This is what Ava and I suspect what happened, you will still have to talk to the boy.”

A tentative smile crept on Daniel’s face, reaching his sapphire eyes. “I will definitely talk to Jeroen, I see something in this exchange of messages, so unusual for Gavin.” He stopped for a moment, looking into the eyes of his conversation partner. “Did your son tell you what his sexual preferences are? Because…”

“No, he didn’t come out officially, but Ava and I figured out he was gay a long time ago. The time he spends in the company of his gay cousins and friends, listening to all the talk about boyfriends, first kiss, make-out, his total lack of interest in girls… We put two and two together and…” Dunstan abruptly stopped, staring at Daniel. “Do you want to say that…”

“Love is the strangest of things, it strikes when you least expect it and you fall for the person who fits the least with your image of the ideal partner. Gavin and Jeroen have known each other since forever, maybe the bond they share got deeper during the time they spent on the island, leading to something else.”

“You are a very wise man, Daniel Bloom.” Dunstan stood, extending a hand in the other man’s direction. “It was nice talking to you. I mean it.”

“Same here. We should do this more often, and by the look of things, we will. Those sons of ours will see to it.” Daniel gave Dunstan an energetic handshake, his sapphire eyes filled with hope and happiness for the possible future Jeroen and Gavin could have together.

************

The delicious smell of breakfast food made the nostrils of all the boys in the group flare and their stomachs grumble in protest. Tired as they were, after all the sleepless days and nights on the island, most of them ate just a sandwich or a few forkfuls of cooked food and went straight to bed, sleeping uninterrupted until morning.

Winter, who discovered his purpose in life was to organize the kitchen and fill The Base’s residents’ bellies with tasty, healthy food, gave a bear hug to each of his favorite volunteers. Instead of devouring the food on the plates Winter already fixed for them, the boys started to set the table for the children who were coming to have breakfast before going to kindergarten and school.

Ardan’s three sons, their cousins Nico and Gavin, and their group of friends were very popular among the rescued kids, who hugged their favorites, using different interjections to express how happy they were about the volunteers coming back safe. Some of the children burst into tears, clinging on the boys’ shirts, insisting they promise to never go away again.

Once the emotions provoked by the reunion dissipated, the kids attacked the plates, devouring the delicious food, some of them asking for more. After all of them finished eating, the children thanked Winter and left the dining hall and headed to the school, waving to the boys in the Crazy Bunch until the building passed out of sight.

“Now that there’s only us left, I want to know everything, all the juicy stuff, what wild beasts did you kill, how did you survive in the wild…” Winter grinned, the playfulness in his voice making everyone smile.

Philosophically scratching the back of his head, Emery decided to speak first, quite unusual for his shy, reserved self. “It was…are you familiar with that expression, a one of a kind experience?” Winter nodded, so the blond boy continued. “Well, that’s what the time we spent on that island was.”

“Oh, c’mon, put that aside, you drove me crazy yesterday with all the messaging.” Lochlin lightly smacked Whitey over the head, confiscating his phone.

“Let him be,” Gavin intervened in a soft voice, so different from his usual, firm, somewhat authoritarian tone. “Yesterday he answered my messages, I wanted to know if he is all right.”

“Thank you.” Whitey looked into the other boy’s turquoise eyes. “Just like on the island, you are my knight in shining armor,” he added with a grin. “For your information, I was messaging Donald, he says hi to everyone.”

“Okay, gentlemen, that’s it. Time to spill the beans and come clean to your uncle Winter.” The man smirked, looking around the table. “Who is this Donald guy?”

“One of the kids who was trapped on the island, we rescued him from a hole in the ground. Well, Gavin and Lorcan did, and Tarzan helped them. Before we left the island, the other men told Dad and Uncle Ardan his real name is Nathan. And no, it’s not what you think, Donald has a boyfriend, whose name is John. He’s a cute one. Ouch! What was that for?” Whitey gave Lochlin a confused look, when he smacked him over the head again.

“For being an ass. Gavin is here, and he’s not deaf.” The blond shook his head, rolling his eyes. “Gods, man, you are hopeless.” He feigned despair.

“John is a badass,” Thorvald, Lorcan’s boyfriend, intervened. “I mean, did you see how he smashed that bloody hunter’s head with the rock? It was epic,” the boy continued, his eyes shining with excitement as he relived the moment.

“Well, our Ira here deserves to be called that, too.” Emery gave the caramel-skinned boy a gratitude-filled look and a tender smile. “Had he not eliminated the hunter who wanted to take Tarrin to you-know-who, all of us would have been royally screwed.”

Winter looked at the boys, shaken to the core by their revelations, but he decided to keep the playful tone. “Now I see, you took part in a safari on that island. Well, boys,” the man cast a glance at the clock mounted on the dining hall’s wall, “time for me to go back to work.”

“Give us twenty more minutes, and we’ll join you?” Ira politely asked. When Winter nodded in understanding, he gave him a grateful look, then turned to the other boys. “Guys, we need to talk.”

CHAPTER 9

A leaden silence followed Ira’s words. All the boys in the group cast expectant looks in his direction, aware that the topic of the discussion was a serious one. Even Whitey abandoned his playful, clownish attitude, seeking Lochlin’s protection. The blond looked between Ira and his stepbrother. Noticing the tension building in his brother, he began rubbing his back.

Lorcan exchanged a look with Thorvald, who nodded in understanding and moved closer to Tarrin, Cian, and Nico. Emery locked fingers with his triplet, Julien, both inching closer to Lochlin and Whitey. Ira mentally cursed his straightforwardness, wishing he’d used a more diplomatic approach.

“This has to stop,” he finally spoke in a firm, almost manly voice, that contrasted with his delicate facial features. “Even if we don’t realize it, talking about the island and what happened there, even in a joking manner, affects us on multiple levels.”

“And how do you suggest we should do that? Just close our eyes, snap our fingers, and everything will be forgotten?” Lochlin’s bitter words took everyone by surprise. “Well, I have news for you: I can’t do that.”

“He is right,” Gavin calmly spoke, indicating the blond, “we can’t erase those events from our memory. That island and everything that happened there became part of who we are. It changed us forever, I don’t see how any of us could ignore that.”

---