The Village

Seth’s Perspective

Our first vacation with the kids was awesome! Since all six kids were off school, Brad, Scotty, Kev, and Randy took time off too and we spent time doing family stuff. Our trip was filled with time in the pool, time with friends and family, and little adventures with the kids, from visiting a ghost town to taking a hike in the desert. My favorite adventure was the Phoenix Zoo. Izzy would not leave the petting Zoo! She called every goat there ‘Jimmy’ and didn’t leave a critter un-pet. Freddy ran off with his (hopefully future) cousins and they spent half the day just watching the monkeys. The twelve of us even took a guided family nature hike at the zoo… that was a waste! The damn kids had the collective attention span of a gnat (all except Matty and Maddy) and couldn’t wait to be done and get back to the animals (lesson learned).

Six men doing kid stuff with six children attracted a lot of attention. That was all new to me and Zach but it was clear that the other guys were used to dealing with the stares and questions. One evening we took the kids to Dave & Buster’s to eat and play video games. We were all sitting at the table eating dinner when an older woman approached our group and said (kindly), “it’s so nice to see a group of daddies spending time with the kids and giving the mommies a break.” I just looked at Zach with a nervous grin… I didn’t know how to respond to that, who knows how she’d react to the reality of our situation.

Kev was the one who answered with a kind smile and said, “No mommies here. Just three happy families with two daddies.” It wasn’t rude or in your face, just a polite correction.

The woman laughed and said “oh my gosh, I should’ve figured that one out myself. And what lovely families they are!” She stood there and talked with us for a while, telling us how she was there with her grandchildren. We talked and laughed and had a wonderful conversation with the stranger. It was an interesting learning moment for Zach and me, we got to see how Kev and the guys handled reactions to their nontraditional families in a civil way. Hanging out with them was extremely educational for us as we started our venture into parenthood. They were trailblazers and had already dealt with all the stuff we were just embarking on.

The trip wasn’t all kid focused, however. Me and Zach got one night of adult fun away from the kids to let it all hang out at The Resort. It was wild! I was feeling ugly and undesirable, Zach did his damnedest to make me feel sexy again. He even gave me a poolside blowjob in front of everyone… all eyes were on me! It was so ridiculously hot and it worked. By the end of the night, I felt good about myself again. But the weird thing was that we ended up making friends with this other couple. They lived in Myrtle Beach South Carolina, just about an hour away from us and had three adopted kids. We had the best time with them just talking, laughing, and sharing kid stories and pics… NAKED! We ended up exchanging numbers with them and hoped we’d see them again. I was so glad that Zach talked me into taking a break to visit my family. Our family and friends loved the kids, and the four of us made a lot of memories and truly bonded as a family unit. But the week went by quickly and soon it was back to reality. By the end of the trip and doubts Zach and I had were gone, we were both 100% certain that we wanted to adopt Freddy and Izzy, and KNEW we could give them the life they deserved.

The trip was a real eye-opener in a lot of ways, one of the most unexpected side effects was that I felt desirable again.

I had felt gross and ugly after the accident, but our trip to The Resort made me feel wanted again. Zach always tells me I’m the hottest guy on earth (and I believe he thinks that, because I feel the same about him), but that night at The Resort all eyes were on me. It was the boost I needed to feel good about myself again. I had a renewed confidence in myself.

It was Monday morning and I had a big day ahead of me so I got up early to get a jump on things. I was in the shower enjoying a rare moment without the kids screaming around me. I was naked, wet & soapy, with my eyes closed, and my face turned up towards the showerhead. The warm water fell over me, slowly waking me up. I heard the shower door open and before I could even shake the water from my face to see what was going on, I felt Zach’s strong arms around me. His cold, still dry body pushed up against my warm, wet skin as his soft lips met the nape of my neck. “Good morning sexy man. You ready for your first day back at the office?”

I threw my head back, reveling in the feel of his body touching mine and said in a quiet voice, “I’m not even thinking about that yet. I’m so stressed out over meeting the kids mom this morning.”

“I know how to get rid of stress” Zach said as he slapped his wet, warm, ample slab of man flesh against my ass cheeks with a slap. I responded with a grateful moan as I pushed my ass back just a little to encourage him. Hey, who was I to turn down a Monday morning shower fuck? My own soapy slab slowly responded as it started to grow, I reached down and stroked it as I pushed my ass against Zach. His cock grew harder as he rubbed it up and down my soapy ass crack. He took his hand and lined himself up with my hole, fuck it felt amazing. I pushed my hole open and my ass back to welcome him inside.

His big, spongy cockhead breached my hole. “Wait, wait, wait,” I said sucking air through my teeth. “Just hold it there a minute” I needed to get used to his girth. He held it there until I begged for him to enter me slowly, then he inched his way into my passage… it felt so frigging amazing. My legs held me up even though my knees were getting weak… I was impressed that my bad knee held steady and did it’s duty as Zach slowly fucked me, it was healing nicely. I braced myself against the tile wall with one hand and stroked myself in sync with Zach’s slow gentle thrusts. “Stand still” I whispered loud enough for him to hear me over the rushing water. Zach stood still with one hand on each of my ass cheeks. I slowly pushed onto him pulling him deep inside me. When his cockhead hit bottom, a wave of ecstatic electricity shot through me, I moved my hips forward so his cock started to slide out, then pushed back again fucking myself on him. Faster and faster, I fucked myself on him until my foot slipped and my knee started to give way.

I stopped suddenly and Zach stood still and asked with panic in his voice “Are you okay, baby?”

I inhaled, “Yeah, yeah, yeah… my frigging knee is still weak” I said, “But I fucking want this.” I pushed back against him and resumed fucking myself on his rod. Damn it felt so good to have him in me, my hole responding with every movement and my hand pumping until I couldn’t hold back. “Fuck I’m cumming” I said. Zach put his hand over my cockhead and caught my jettisoning load as I groaned with excitement and moaned in pure ecstasy. My hole gripped my husband’s shaft like a vice as I shot.

“Fuck I’m cumming” He whispered into my ear before clamping his perfect teeth onto my wet neck sending a shock of pain through my still recovering body. “UH” he grunted as he pushed as deep into me as he could hitting places that had been ignored for so long… goddammit it felt so good. Zach licked my cum off his hand while he continued to pump my ass full of his. Before he pulled out of me, he gave me a cum-filled kiss. What a way to energize for the long day ahead.

The kids were still asleep when Zach and I got out of the shower. We woke them up, got them dressed, and had breakfast as a family. After breakfast, Zach and I dropped the kids off at school together… then it was off to meet Karen. We were both nervous, we had no clue what to expect. Dan (our lawyer) and Ms. Elkin had thoughts on what was going to happen, but it was all speculation. This could go either way. We got to the detention facility, went through security, and were ushered into a sparse, cold meeting room with scuffed white walls, a table in the center, and a guard on the other side of the door watching us through the thick glass. Karen’s lawyer was waiting for us. We all sat quietly around the table, waiting for the guard to bring Karen in, It was about ten minutes before she joined us. She was dressed all in gray and her hair mousey brown hair just hung on her head, un-styled. She wasn’t what I was expecting… I mean we had seen pictures of her on the news, her mugshot was all over the internet, and of course the family picture Freddy drew in crayon so I had an image of her in my head. She was so petite, and young, a lot softer than I expected, I guess. Her reality was in contrast with her rough past and reputation. We all just kind of stared at each other for a bit.

Her lawyer spoke first, “Karen asked me to call this meeting to discuss the future of her children Frederico and Isabela in the event that she is unable to care for them due to incarceration should that be the outcome of her case.” He went on for a bit until Karen interrupted him, speaking for the first time.

She was young, barely 21, and so tiny! I don’t think she was even five feet tall, and she weighed maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet… like I said, I had seen pictures but for some reason expected her to be much bigger and more rugged. Her voice was high with a southern accent that made Brody sound like he was from Merry Old England, “Listen y’all. I fucked up” she blurted while looking me and Zach in the eyes, she was louder than I expected. “I aint stupid, even if I get off easy, I’ll be gone long enough for the state to take my babies. Y’all may not believe me, but I love my kids and I don’t wanna lose ‘em forever.” I believed her, how the hell could anyone not love those two.

Her lawyer cut her off before she said much more and said, “We understand that you might be interested in adopting both kids.” We both nodded.

“Very much” I said.

“Of course you are. My kids are fuckin’ awesome” Karen said. She was rude, crude, and loud, but straight forward. She reminded me of Ruth from Ozark… little and full of piss.

Zach spoke for the first time, “They are fuckin’ awesome and we love them both!” he said to the surprise of pretty much everyone sitting at the table. “And we can give them a fucking great home and an awesome life.” Zach was smart, he knew he had to speak her language if he wanted to connect with her, so he just let it fly.

Karen smiled at Zach, “I like you.” Her lawyer started to speak when Karen cut him off, she was in charge. “Them kids have been in a lot of Foster Homes since they was born onaccounta me fuckin’ up so much, but ya’ll are the only ones they ever talk about or ask for. They like y’all… and just so y’all know, I aint got no problem with the gay thing.” She paused for a moment then looked the two of us in the eyes, “I’ll cut to the chase, if I gotta lose my kids, I want ‘em to be with people who love ‘em. Do y’all love ‘em?”

I wanted to say ‘like they were my own’ but it felt in poor taste. “Absolutely” Zach and I said in unison without hesitation.

“And I want to be able to see ‘em” she responded.

Her lawyer spoke again, “We’d like you to consider an open adoption arrangement where Karen has visitation rights. We’re not talking a completely open situation, there would be visitations and restrictions, more of a…” Karen cut him off.

“I promise I won’t cause no trouble, I just wanna be able to see ‘em once in a while, and for them to know who I am. I don’t know if I could live knowin’ I’d never see ‘em again. They’re the only thing that keeps me goin’.” Karen said. Her lawyer put several suggestions out on the table, Dan took copious notes and the two lawyers went back and forth with statements and questions about how the arrangement might work, Zach seemed to track with all of it. The lawyers promised to get together and put their thoughts on paper for us all to discuss. We all agreed that we wanted what was best for the kids. We had about twenty minutes left with Karen, so we just talked with her, trying to get to know her since it looked like she may be part of our world moving forward. She had done a lot of stupid shit, but the sad truth was she’d been on her own since she was fifteen, a mother at sixteen, and abandon by her boyfriend when her first born was less than two years old and she was pregnant with her second. She was all alone at a very young age, in over her head, and trusted all the wrong people in an attempt to survive… I started to see her as the scared kid she was and empathize with her. After she told us her story, she asked Zach and I about what we did for a living, our home, etc.… then we talked about the one and only thing we had in common, the kids. It was a low security facility and we were there on a legal visit so they let us keep our phones, Zach pulled his out and showed her the pictures and videos he had taken of them for me when I was in the hospital and the ones from our vacation. She laughed until she cried. Karen was no longer just this evil entity that fucked up Freddy and Izzy’s lives; she was a human who did her best to survive and provide for her children. Sadly, she was in over her head. I could see our kid’s faces in her.

“Day-um, my little princess loves soakin’ up the attention, don’t she?” Karen asked.

“And she got a lot of it from our family in friends in Arizona” I said. Then Zach showed her a video of Freddy sitting behind the wheel of the old Rambler talking about his ride.

“Oh my god!” she laughed. “I aint never seen him so happy, that boy is jumpin’ outta his own skin with excitement.” After that video Zach, showed her videos of the zoo, and one of them singing in the car. She wanted to know who all the other kids and people in the videos were and kept asking for more videos, she couldn’t get enough. By the time the guard let us know our time was up she was in tears. “Gotdammit, I miss them so much” she said. “they look happy. Really happy” she said. “Just promise me you’ll take care of ‘em and not let nuthin’ happen to ‘em.”

“Listen, Karen. We love those two little shits” Zach said making her laugh a little.

“We love everything about them” I added. “We’ll protect them with our lives” I promised. She just nodded as the guards walked her out. I really felt for her… she loved those kids as much as we did (if possible, maybe more), and it was killing her that she couldn’t be with them.

Zach and I parted ways with everyone else and he drove me to The Village for my first partial day back at the office. “Shit” I said. “That was hard.”

“Yeah, but I think it was positive” Zach said. “I don’t think she’s going to fight us on the adoption. In fact, we may even be able to expedite things.”

“I feel sorry for her. she tries” I said empathetically.

Zach looked at me, “But c’mon. she fails miserably. Seth, I know she loves them, but they’re not safe with her. This could get ugly, don’t get cold feet on me.”

I sighed, “I won’t, I just feel bad for her, that’s all.” The thought of keeping a mother from her children made me feel sick, but… not as sick as the thought of what could’ve happened to Izzy when she was in her mother’s care.

“She did it to herself, Seth.” Zach said almost yelling at me, “We can’t let her do it to the kids anymore. Period.”

“Geeze, I get it. I get it” I responded. Did he really think I’d choose her over the kids? I just understood her more than before and empathized with her… that was all. We talked about it all the way to the office where Zach dropped me off at the front door promising to pick me up in time to pick up the kids from school.

“Team Frizzy” Zach said as he kissed me.

“Team Frizzy” I responded back returning his kiss and adding “I love you” Zach repeated the words. I got out of the rented SUV and walked up the steps of Harrington House for my first (partial) day back.

I inhaled deeply before opening the door, walked through the tiny foyer, and into the offices of The Village. “There’s our man” BA said loudly, “I missed ya darlin’.” Rodney came out of his office to greet me. The three of us hung out in the lobby and talked while I shuffled through the pile of mail BA handed me. I tried to keep my finger on the pulse of what was happening at the office while I was out, but it wasn’t the same as being there. There was an envelope from a Myrtle Beach address in the stack of mail, I opened it as Rodney told me about what was going on with the guys. There was a $500 check in the envelope with a note, it was from Marcos and Kyler, the guys we met at The Resort, the note read “We researched The Village after we met, we were so impressed with what you’re doing that we wanted to be part of it. We hope this little bit helps, use it as you see fit.” What a nice surprise to come back to. The rest of the afternoon was busy as I did my best to get back in the groove. Life continued without me and the guys all seemed to be doing well.

My only session that day was with Grayson. He had decided to stay in Wilmington for couple of weeks to help at the BroMax candle barn since they needed the extra hands and he didn’t have any immediate plans since he had to wait another semester before starting school. His parents were coming later in the week to pick him up and take him home.

Grayson looked good. He had built some muscle mass back since we first found him and was in good health. “Listen, Seth” Grayson said sheepishly. “You’ve done so much for me, and I owe you everything…. But I need to ask for one more favor.”

“What can I help you with?” I asked. Curious to know what he was thinking.

He took a deep breath and exhaled, “I don’t want to go home until I come clean and tell my parents the things I did.”

“They love you unconditionally, Grayson. They don’t care” I said trying to put him at ease.

“But I care, Seth” he said in a solemn tone. “I want to be honest; if I’m going to go back home, then I want them to know the truth. I feel like I’m lying if I don’t tell them everything. Will you meet with me and my parents when they come to get me so I can tell them?”

We talked it through together and it was clear that he had given it a lot of thought and had his mind made up already. The truth of the matter was that it was one hundred percent his decision, I was just there to guide him. “If that’s what you want, I’ll be there with you” I responded. We used the rest of our session to plot out how he wanted the discussion with his parents to go, we also talked through possible reactions they might have and how he might respond and I made it clear he could stay if things went badly. It was a good session and I think he felt better just talking it through.

All in all, it was a good first day back in the office. Zach showed up right on time and we went to pick up Freddy. On the ride over I told him about the check from Kyler and Marcos, he suggested we invite them up for Easter. Easter Sunday was coming up and Max and Brody were planning an easter egg hunt at BroMax for the kids. I called Max and asked if it would be okay, and he told me to invite them. I texted Kyler. He was excited to hear from me and said he’d talk it over with Marcos and give me a call back.

We pulled into the pickup lane at Freddy’s school a few minutes before the bell rang, Principal Ferris was out greeting parents as always. “Hi guys, I hear you had a nice vacation” he said as he walked up to the SUV, then added with a laugh, “EVERYBODY heard you had a nice vacation.”

Zach and I laughed, and Zach responded “I’m sorry. Did Freddy been drive you all crazy with ‘a-cation’ stories’?”

“Actually, he’s been keeping the faculty entertained all day” Principal Ferris responded. “He’s so excited and hasn’t stopped talking since he got here, it’s fun seeing him like this.” Zach Laughed in response and pulled out his phone to show the Principal the video of Freddy and the old Rambler. We told him all about our vacation, then gave him the topline on our conversation with Karen and the lawyers. We ended by telling him we were hoping to adopt the two kids. “I think that would be a great thing for both of them. Karen loves those kids and truly tries, but she’s we’ve watched her stumble, and every time she does Freddy goes through hell. You two have been such a stabilizing force for him. If there’s anything I can do to help, just let me know.”

I had been leaning over the seat talking through the open driver’s window and decided to get out and stretch a little. I walked over and stood next to the Principal as we talked. “Listen, just keep us informed of any behavior you think is odd, improvements he’s making, or thoughts on things we can do better… this is all new and we’re just feeling our way through it” I said.

“You and every other parent in this school” he responded with a smile. “You guys are doing great. Freddy is doing better than ever.” It was so good to hear that from him, we were trying so hard and thought we were doing a decent job of parenting but had zero point of reference to measure success. Freddy came running out waving a picture he drew of him driving the old Rambler, the smile he drew on himself showed giant teeth, started right under his nose, and ran off his face on three sides. Our ‘a-cation’ had given that little man so many new experiences.

We said goodbye to the Principal and headed to Mrs. Mavis’s to pick up Izzy. Dylan was loading Maggie into the Gina’s SUV. “Hey Dylan,” Zach said as we walked into the little daycare, “where’s Gina?”

Dylan smiled wide and said, “Spendin’ a little time gettin’ to know Dylan Jr. at the hospital.”

“SHE HAD THE BABY?!” I yelled.

“Yup about three hours ago. A little boy, Dylan James, Jr. We’re callin’ him DJ” the proud papa replied with a smile bigger than his face as he pulled out his phone and showed us pictures of his tiny new son. He finished buckling Maggie in and said to her “Let’s go see Grammaw and Gramps, then to the hospital to see your momma and meet your brother.” Maggie squealed with excitement at the idea.

“I can’t believe BA didn’t say anything” I exclaimed.

“That’s cuz she don’t know yet. Maggie gets to tell Grammaw and Gramps before we go to the hospital, we’re headed there now.”

“That’s awesome! Congratulations” Zach said patting Dylan on the back.

“If you need anything, let us know” I offered sincerely.

“We should be good. Gina comes home tomorrow already” He said. Then he finished buckling Maggie in, said goodbye, and headed off to welcome DJ to the village.

 

To be continued…