Page 58 of The Surrogate Omega, Part Two

River’s expression is filled with affection as he smiles at the kid. I was a little worried about how our families would react to us taking in a traumatized preteen, but they all embraced Ro with open arms. I should have expected nothing less.

“Sure, Ro. Just let her uncles say hi first, ok?”

Ro nods enthusiastically. “Ok!” As soon as the three of us give kisses and happy birthday wishes to the clueless little one, Ro takes her. She’s not walking on her own yet, but she loves when someone holds her hands as she walks up and down the house exploring. Ro does this now and patiently guides her as she examines the decorations.

Cooper gives us a meaningful look. “He seems to be doing better.”

I shrug. “He has his good days and his bad, like the rest of us, I guess. Miri really brings another side out of him I’d love to see more.”

River looks back at the two and smiles warmly. “He is really great with her. And you said he doesn’t have any siblings, right?”

I shake my head. “No. But according to some of the other kids he was kept with, he was always really good with the little ones, keeping them distracted and calm.”

River looks sick, and I don’t blame him. The whole thing makes me fucking sick myself. River juts his head toward the cake. “By the way, I’ll give you the name of the bakery where I had the cake done so you can get something like it for his birthday.”

“Thanks, man. I really appreciate it.”

River’s eyes go distant as he nods. He looks over to Lake, who’s attempting to sit on the couch with much more difficulty than I ever thought that action to be. “Our mom tried; she really did. She’d always bake us one of those box cakes for our birthday whenever we had access to a kitchen, but it was hard. I still remember our first real birthday party after mom met Luke.”

It’s a sharp reminder that all of us had some shitty starts, but we managed to get through and be relatively functioning adults. It goes to show that family doesn’t need to be blood. It’s all about love, care, and support. While Ev ended up reuniting with his birth father, who is awesome, he had a rough start as well.Luke embraced River and Lake as his children, showed them what a true father could be. I’d probably be in jail or dead in a ditch somewhere without Ev and Mr. C. Now, I hope that Lake, Ev, and I, along with the rest of our family, can be that to Ro. Show him he’s worthy of love.

Eventually, the other guests start to arrive. Essie and her new boyfriend are first, then there’s a few people I don’t know, and then some coworkers of both River’s and Cooper’s along with their children. I wonder if Ro will feel comfortable playing with them. When Zoe arrives, she beelines to Lake, after giving Miri a quick kiss hello, and caresses his belly. I can’t help but laugh at the total distress on Lake’s face as Zoe presses her head against his belly, speaking to her son. He humors her, since the baby is her child, but I can tell every second she’s touching him is torture for him.

I debate rescuing him when the door opens and Luke walks in carrying a pile of presents taller than he is. Behind him, his not-boyfriend, Joel, walks in carrying trays and trays of food.

“Here, let me help you with that,” I say, hurrying over to take some of the presents. Ev and Cooper are behind me, taking trays and presents too.

Luke sighs in relief. “Thanks. I thought I was about to drop everything.”

“Dad,” River moans as he takes his trays into the kitchen. “I told you not to go overboard!”

“I didn’t!” Luke protests while his not-boyfriend laughs.

“I told him you’d say that.” He greets River and Cooper with a one-armed hug, as he’s still holding packages. “Thank you for having me here today. Believe it or not, one of those packages is from me.”

River laughs and returns the hug. “Of course. You’re always welcome. And thank you, I’m sure Miri will love it.”

“Here, I’ll take those to the table,” Cooper says.

“I got them, just lead the way,” Joel replies cheerily.

Ev comes in and the two of us are helping River organize everything when he eyes his dad meaningfully. “Is there a reason you and Joel are still ‘just friends’?”

Luke gives his son a dirty look. “We’re taking it slow; this is new to me.”

“There’s a difference between taking things slow and whatever this is.”

Luke sighs and runs his hands through his dark hair. He’s looking better lately. Less tired, maybe even a little thinner. His not-relationship seems to be good for him.

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

River crosses his arms across his chest. “Nope.”

“I’d like to go see my granddaughter, you know. And my other kids.”

“They’re not going anywhere.”

Luke sighs again, even more dramatically. He glances behind him to make sure Joel isn’t listening, but the man in question is on the other side of the room chatting with Zoe and another guest.

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