The Village

Zach’s Perspective

 Freddy and Izzy had been with us for just few days and our world was flipped upside freaking down. It was Wednesday night and we were sitting down to our fourth family dinner in a row when my mom announced that she had decided to extend her trip for another week or two. Seth glanced over at me, If looks could kill, I wouldn’t be here to tell this story. We finished dinner and the kids went into the former den to play while the three adults cleaned up the kitchen. My husband was still shooting his daggers through me and I knew what I had to do.

“Mom” I said with trepidation. “We, um, we appreciate the hell out of all you’ve done for us, and…” she cut me off.

“It’s my pleasure, honey! I love those kids, and I feel so needed around here” she said interrupting me. Seth’s eyes were boring through me.

I started again, “Mom, Like I said we appreciate all you’ve done…” she cut me off again.

“Oh, and those sweet babies, I love spending time with them” she was NOT making this easy. “I was thinking we could get them bunk beds and put them in one room so I can take over Eli and Riley’s old room that way I can stay as long as you need me. I was also thinking…” then Seth got impatient and cut her off.

“Mom, no.” he said. “Kelly, I love the hell out of you and I can’t begin to thank you enough for everything, but no. Just no.” He was frustrated and looked at me for help.

“We want to do this by ourselves, Mom” I said. “We want to get to know these kids, bond with them… we signed up to do this, we trained for it, and now is our chance to step up.” Her response surprised me.

“Absolutely” she said with a look of sincere joy on her face. “I was only staying because I thought you two were overwhelmed.”

“We are” Seth said. “In a great way. These two little shits overwhelm the hell out of me and I Love it. I want to spend every waking minute with them. We really do appreciate everything and don’t want to hurt your feelings, but we’re ready, Mom.” My mom hugged Seth, then me.

“Listen, you two didn’t hurt my feelings at all. I was starting to miss Nathan and home anyway” she said with sincerity, “I’ll head home tomorrow as I planned, but promise me you’ll call if you need me. I’m just a short plane ride away.” She took it very well, but we both still felt bad. She loved being in the middle of all our chaos, we felt like we were taking something away from her. That night she put the kids to sleep and slept in the chair in the corner of Izzy’s room.

The next morning when we got up, Freddy was in his room dressing himself, Izzy was dressed and sitting in her highchair, while my mom was making a huge goodbye breakfast. Her bags were packed and sitting in the corner of the dining room… I know she said she was okay with it, but I felt like shit, she just wanted to be part of our little family. “G’Mornin’, Mom” I said coming up behind her and giving her a kiss on the cheek. “You okay? I feel bad for asking you to leave.”

“Don’t!” She said with a smile. “I’m proud that you guys want to tackle this on your own. I really don’t feel bad about it in the slightest. But I will miss the heck out of these little guys” she said as she walked over to Izzy and wiped the pancake off her face. Izzy was oblivious to what was happening.

After breakfast we all loaded into the Audi, Mom’s bags were in the trunk and she insisted on squeezing into the middle seat in back between the two car seats. She was singing songs and playing car games with the kids. We got to Freddy’s school and he begged “G-Ma Kelly” to take him to his classroom… she did with a huge smile on her face. I parked the car and the three of us waited for her to come back. “Seth” I said in a pathetic voice. “We should let her stay.”

“Zach, no.” He said. “You know I fucking love your mother, but c’mon. We’ve been training for this for months. I want to be the one that makes dinner for the kids. I want to be the one that Freddy tells about his day, and the one who puts Izzy to bed.” Seth was jealous of my mother. It was pretty damn cute.

I started to argue, “it’s been nice having help and the kids love her.” Seth looked pathetic, so I decided to side with him. He was right, this was something we wanted for us. “Maybe if the kids end up staying for a long time she can come back for a while.”

“Of course, I just want some alone time with them” Seth responded. Izzy was in the back seat chatting in gibberish, oblivious of everything going on around her.

G-Ma Kelly came back to the car with tears in her eyes. “That Principal is such a nice man, and Freddy’s teachers are wonderful” She said crawling over Freddy’s empty seat and buckling herself into the middle seat next to Izzy. Next, we dropped Izzy off at Mrs. Mavis’s and Mom had the same reaction, she loved it. “It’s obvious you and the kids have good support” she said before wiping her tears and adding “okay, off to the airport.”

Seth turned back and looked at her, “Mom, you should stay” he said surprising me.

She leaned up, touched his shoulder, and let out an appreciative laugh. “No honey, I should go. You guys got this.” We talked more about it on the way to the airport, then Seth and I walked her to security and said our goodbyes. She hugged us both tight… her leaving was a sacrifice; we knew she wanted to stay.

Seth Dropped me off at the office because I had a late meeting that day and he was going to pick up the kids. My day was non-stop and my last meeting ended at almost 6PM, I packed my bags and went out front to meet Seth, he had sent me a text telling me they were waiting. What I saw warmed my heart. Seth was parked in front of the building doors in the Audi with the music blasting and him and the two kids yelling the words to “That’s What I Like About You” by The Romantics at the top of their lungs. I laughed out loud as I walked to the car and let myself in the passenger seat. The three of them kept “singing” and I joined in just as the song was coming to an end and the volume of the words got quieter, “That’s what I like about you, That’s what I like about you,” Seth had the kids almost whispering. And then yelling “HEY!” at the end.

“Hi Zach” Freddy said followed by “Hi Sach” from Izzy. Freddy called us Seth and Zach, and Izzy tried to do the same but for some reason the S and Z kept getting flipped and ‘th’ sounds weren’t easy for her, so we became Zeff and Sach. Ugh… there was little doubt in my mind that our friends and family (especially my brothers in-law) would call me Sach in perpetuity.

“Hi guys, how was school?” I asked, Freddy started to go into a diatribe about his day.

Izzy just yelled “Again, Zeff, again!” and Seth replayed the song. The four of us sang that song all the way home, I learned that my office is almost eight ‘That’s What I Like About You’s’ from home. That ride home was a turning point, after just four days together, the four of us were gelling as a unit. When we got home, we all changed into our “play clothes” then Seth went to work in the kitchen with Freddy eagerly helping him while Izzy played with her favorite baby in the playroom and I hung out with her while working on my laptop. After dinner we put the kids to bed, Petunia took her post in the hallway between their rooms, and Seth sat on the couch and binge watched Entourage.

I fell asleep in front of the TV and woke up to my sweats tucked under my balls and Seth’s hot mouth on my sleeping serpent. Goddamn it felt so fucking amazing. Seth and I had always had a mind blowing sex life but with two kids and my mother in the house we were only able to sneak in a quick, down, and dirty shower fuck in the last five days. I know five days wasn’t all that long, but we were used to doing whatever, whenever… having Eli and Riley in the house hampered that a little and we were excited about them moving out and having the place to ourselves, but that’s not exactly how things worked. “What if the kids get up?” I asked.

Seth pulled off my cock and replied, “We’ll hear them on the monitor” he pulled his phone out of his pocket and put it on the end table (we had a monitor in each of the kids rooms hooked to our phones). “Or we’ll hear the doors open, plus Petunia will wake up and make noise. Just enjoy it.” Then he went back down on me. There was so much going on in my head with the kids, work, feeling like a bad son for sending my mother home… but at that moment it was just us again. Me and Seth, and I let myself go eking out a moan of appreciation as my hands found the back of his head and my fingers got tangled in his soft hair. He bobbed his head up and down on my rapidly stiffening manhood with his hand following behind massaging his saliva into the shaft. It was a blissful moment of escape from the chaos. Seth moaned sending vibrations through my body and awaking my instincts. My hands gripped his head and my hips started to thrust as I sat on the couch with his head in my lap. He grunted and gurgled as the spit dripped from the sides of his busy mouth. I was so damn close, ready to shoot, ready for some long overdue relief when suddenly Seth pulled his head off me. I looked at his face, it was red, his eyes were glassy and full of tears, he was panting and trying to catch his breath, when our eyes met.

He playfully punched me in the chest. “Slow down fucker” he said with a little laugh. I want to make this last… and I want some too!” We heard a stirring sound from upstairs, then a thud and a sigh. We listened for a moment then Seth reached in his pocket and checked his phone. “Allgood. I think it was just Petunia moving around” Seth concluded before pulling his shirt over his head, I followed suit. We were both bare-chested when I got off the couch, dropped to my knees, undid his faded jeans, and pulled them down; he sat there in just his red striped boxer briefs with his jeans at his ankles. Looking him in the eyes, I put my hot mouth on the thin fabric and blew my hot breath through his underwear, I could feel him getting hard against my lips. Damn that man turned me on! I chewed his fuck stick through the underwear, soaking his briefs with my saliva as he moaned. I grabbed the waistband and yanked them down to his ankles to hang out with his jeans. I knelt there and licked him from his musky taint to his bulging tip. My tongue made the trip back down his shaft swirling, twirling, and savoring every inch of his girthy stem of manhood. Damn I loved the feel and taste of him, even his smell just sent waves of lust through my body. I had him on the brink when that grabbed a handful of my hair and frantically pulled me off him, “Stop, I’m gonna shoot” he whispered.

“Ow” I said quietly as I rubbed my head, “that fucking hurt.” Shit, he really yanked on my hair. He laughed quietly and apologized.

“C’mon, let’s move this to the bed so you can fuck me properly” Seth said as he stood up, pulled up his pants and grabbed his shirt. We quietly made our way upstairs tiptoeing past our faithful guard dog (who was at her post between the two bedrooms) and into the master. We shut and locked the door then engaged in a passionate make out session, devouring each other and fumbling with belts, zippers, underwear, and pants until we were standing there naked, hardon to hardon, grinding our groins together in pure desire. I saw Seth drop his phone on the nightstand so we could hear the monitors.

He pulled away from me and jumped onto the bed, he just lay there on his back, feet flat on the bed, knees up with a desperate grin on his face, “Fuck me… and I mean like now.” Yeah, that’s what he wanted… but I wanted that sweet hole. I jumped up and knelt between his knees then pushed them to his chest and dove in. My tongue licked up and down his smooth, shaved crack and then bore into his hole. His sphincter opened up like a blooming rose trying to catch the first dew of spring. My hand spread his perfect ass cheeks further apart giving me even better access to what I needed. I licked up his crack, past his taint, over his balls, and all the way up his shaft until I could engulf him completely. I took him all the way down my throat, burying my nose in his trimmed pubic bush. Seth writhed and moaned doing his best to enjoy the moment while not waking our two little buddies down the hallway. I bobbed up and down on his shaft as I stroked and encouraged his little swimmers to flow down my throat. “I’m cumming” he grunted. I didn’t waste a fucking second getting into position. I line myself up and thrust into him just as the first spurt smacked him on the chin. I fucked him hard and with purpose as my hand grabbed his cock and coaxed every last drop out of his withering ball sac. He was in euphoric bliss as I pistoned in and out faster and faster until I finally blew my seed into his ass with a loud groan that felt like it shook the walls. I was sure I woke the kids up as I collapsed on him, our bodies glued together with sweat and cum. Seth checked the monitors on his phone. “Still sleeping” he panted in his post-fuck euphoria.

“Oh my god that was fucking hot” I said, “and we did it with the kids in the house” I laughed.

Seth laughed back, “maybe we CAN have it all.” We ended our session with a wet kiss and fell asleep with me spooning him.

Friday morning was our first day without Mom’s help. Freddy got up and dressed himself just like he had every other day, I got Izzy dressed for daycare, and Seth made breakfast. Izzy was addicted to Mickey Mouse pancakes, and Freddy would eat whatever we put in front of him. Seth had an early Session with Colton, so he helped me put the kids in the Audi then took off for work in the GTI. The second I started the engine Izzy yells, “like about you!” I laughed as I played The Romantics and the three of us belted the song out until we pulled up to Freddy’s school. Seth and I were getting the drop off and pickup down to an artform, I pulled up in front of the door. Next it was off to Mrs. Mavis’s to drop Izzy. After that I headed to The Village to trade cars with Seth, I had another late meeting and he needed the car with the kids seats so he could pick them up. We were doing good with juggling our schedules.

It was midday and I was in a meeting when Seth called, I put him through to voicemail. He tried again, then sent a text “Call me when you can.” Seth rarely called me at work. My meeting ended about ten minutes later and I called. “Sorry, I was in a meeting. What’s up?” I said when he answered.

“Ms. Elkin called. The kids mom posted bail earlier this week and she’s allowed supervised visitation once a week” Seth said, almost in a panic.

“Well, we knew that was coming. When does she want to see them?” I said trying to calm him.

“Tomorrow, then every Wednesday at 5:30” my husband responded.

“Well, tomorrow is short notice, but I think we can make it work, and Wednesdays sound doable too” I answered trying to be calm and the voice of reason. “So how does it work? Do we bring them to her or what?”

“Ms. Elkin will meet us somewhere then take them to meet her at a neutral location, probably near her home since she doesn’t have transportation, then we meet Ms. Elkin again two hours later to pick them up.” Seth said sharing the facts and logistics, his tone was cold and there was trepidation in his voice. “She said the state prefers we don’t have contact with the mother.”

“Okay, tell Ms. Elkin we can do that…” I said, adding “If you’re good with it.”

He sighed heavily, “I’m not good with any of it, but tough shit I guess, huh? It’s part of the deal.”

“Seth, remember our training and what Ms. Elkin said when she dropped them off. The goal is reunification.” I thought before I said the next words because they were harsh reality, “We’re foster parents, they aren’t our kids. They’re just visitors and they both ask for their momma regularly; this will be good for them.”

“Fuck you” Seth said with a little laugh. He knew I was right but the last thing he wanted to hear was reason, he wanted me to say we could skip it. “I know, and it’s only been a week but damn I love those two” he said before I could say anything, “I know, I know, I know this is what we signed up for.” We were learning the hard reality of foster parenting. That night when I got home Seth greeted me with a kiss saying, “Brody and Max are coming over to meet the kids, we’re ordering pizza. Then tomorrow we meet Ms. Elkin at noon at my office.” Brody and Max were our best friends, they lived within walking distance, and we STLL couldn’t find time to introduce them to the kids all week.

I put my arms around him and hugged him, “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine with it all. It’s just a couple of hours. Right?” He said with a sigh. “At least for now.” We both knew deep inside that these kids were just temporary guests in our lives. They hadn’t even been with us a week, but they made a hell of an impact and we were both in love. We knew there was heartache ahead.

As we hugged, I felt an attack from behind as Izzy grabbed on to my legs, “Sach, kiss the baby” she said as she handed me her doll. I kissed her baby hello, then I kissed our baby hello. Freddy just yelled “hi” from the playroom, he’d been in there drawing ever since they got home.

I went upstairs to change and by the time I came back down Brody and Max were there. Izzy couldn’t stop staring at Max, after a couple of minutes she walked up to him and held up her arms and said “up.” She wanted him to hold her (very un-Izzy-like). He picked her up and I realized her eyes had been glued to his flaming red hair, she touched it as soon as it was in reach and said “pretty” under her breath. The four of us laughed at the mesmerized little angel. Freddy on the other hand couldn’t be bothered to leave his drawing, so Brody made his way to the den and introduce himself.

“What y’all drawin’?” Brody asked as an interested fellow artist.

“Petunia” Freddy said, never looking up. Brody got on the floor and grabbed a marker and a piece of paper and went to work on his version of Petunia as he lie on his stomach next to Freddy. The two were happy as hell just lying on the floor drawing, occasionally Freddy would reach over and add to Brody’s drawing, or the other way around… artistic assist.

Meanwhile, Seth was catching Max up on everything that had happened in the past week and sharing his angst about the first parental visit the next day. Max announced that DDS (Division of Social Services) called and they were expecting an 8 year old girl on Saturday. He said it was an abuse situation, she was in another foster home but the foster parents had asked for her to be placed elsewhere after a few weeks… it sounded like she was shuffled around for a while. Brody and Max would have their hands full but they were still excited to have their first foster placement.

As the guys were talking the doorbell rang and Ella arrived with the pizzas. “Hey Ella, what’s up?” I asked as she handed me the boxes.

“Two more weeks until DC!” She said excitedly. “listen, the guys told me that you all chipped in to send me, thanks.”

“We’re all proud of you” I said as I handed her a twenty dollar tip. She refused. Brody came up behind me to grab the pizza boxes.

“I told you, no tips… you guys basically gave me a car” she said as she put her now empty hands behind her back.

Brody grabbed the twenty and put it in her coat pocket, “here. I didn’t give ya’ a damn car” he said straight faced before he took the boxes to the kitchen. She thanked us with a shy smile then told me about her upcoming trip before her and Falkor hit the road to the next delivery. By the time I shut the door and went into the kitchen Brody was back on the floor of the den with Freddy, Izzy had joined them. Max was in the kitchen making a salad, and Seth was next to him cutting up pizza for Izzy and trying to cool it down. The kids were animated as we all ate at the kitchen counter. After dinner Brody and Freddy moved their art studio to the living room and drew some more, Izzy sat on Max’s lap holding her doll baby (as they say in the south), and the rest of us talked with one of Seth’s 80’s playlists playing on the speaker in the background. Suddenly Seth yells, “Hey Freddy and Izzy, listen.” ‘That’s What I Like About You’ came over the speaker and Seth increased the volume from his phone. Freddy (who now knew most the words) stood up and started singing at the top of his lungs, Izzy did her best to keep up… she knew maybe five or six words she kept repeating. Max and Brody were laughing out loud. Before we knew it, Freddy had us all up and dancing. I took some video to send to mom. Izzy eventually fell asleep on Max’s lap and Freddy begged us to let him stay up late, but finally let Brody take him upstairs and tuck him in. The six of us had a great night at home.

After the guys left, I sent the videos and pics to from the night to my mom with a text that said ‘quiet night at home. Freddy and Brody drew pictures and Izzy’s in love with Max’s red hair.’ (She loved every pic and movie) then I cuddled with Seth and fell asleep.

The next morning, we all got up and had breakfast together, Seth and I told the kids that they were gonna see their mother at lunch. They were so flipping excited. Every two seconds Izzy asked ‘Momma now? Momma now?’ and Freddy drew a million pictures to take to her. We got the kids cleaned and dressed them met Ms. Elkin at The Village for the hand off.

The next two hours were the shittiest of our lives. We went to Marilee’s for coffee, then walked around  downtown to kill time. Seth was a ball of stress, worried about how the kids would react to seeing their mom again. After what felt like and eternity, Ms. Elkin brought the kids back. Freddy couldn’t stop talking about his mom, and Izzy just sobbed ‘momma, momma, momma…’ she was a mess, she was just too young to understand what was going on. So was Freddy, but he was coping.

That afternoon when we got home there was a package from Amazon on the front porch for Freddy and Izzy from G-Ma Kelly. There was an art kit for Freddy and a redheaded doll baby for Izzy. The kids went nuts and seemed to leave the visit with their mother behind and fall back into life with us.

Mom came through again.

To be continued…