When Rafe arrived on Sunday, Aiden was just finishing the pork chops and potatoes. “Have a seat, dinner will be served shortly, Papa.”
“Smells delicious,” Rafe patted his back before going and taking his usual seat at the table.
Aiden dished the meals out onto two plates and then carried them to the dining room. “What do you want to drink? Beer? Wine?” he asked as he set them down.
“I’ll take a beer now,” Rafe said. “I know where it is.”
He watched his dad go over and pull two bottles from the fridge, then grab the bottle opener from the drawer and pop both of the caps off before placing them down on the table. When he sat down, Aiden realized his papa hadn’t said a whole lot since he entered the house.
“Something on your mind?” Aiden asked.
“Oh, well, I was just thinking about our conversation the other day. In fact, this past week, I’ve been thinking about it more often than not.”
Aiden frowned. “Our conversation? As in me wanting to get to know my children?” he checked.
Rafe nodded. “Have you reached out to the family?”
Aiden wasn’t keeping what he had found out a secret, per se, but he also hadn’t shared his findings with his papa. He knew that Rafe wasn’t completely on board with the idea, and Aiden thought it was best to tread lightly when it came to telling him everything about his plan. The last thing he wanted was to have an argument with his papa.
“I have.” He took a bite of his pork chop, but he could feel Rafe’s eyes on him.
“And?” Rafe asked, the impatience clear in his tone.
“And I have three kids out there. Qu— I mean, the omega had triplets.”
Rafe’s jaw dropped. Aiden snickered and went on eating his meal.
“And?” he asked again. Rafe was clearly intrigued. His papa always hoped he would have grandkids.
“Their only parent is their omega father. His partner, a beta, was killed in the military before the children were born. The omega, Quinn is his name, has been a single parent for six years.”
“Wow.” Rafe’s eyes were wide. He took a drink from his beer bottle, and Aiden watched him. He swallowed before speaking. “What did this Quinn say when you showed up out of the blue?”
Aiden looked down at his food and took another bite. The chewing gave him some time to think over his answer. He could feel Rafe’s expectant eyes on him.
“What’s going on, Aiden?” his papa asked, in that tone Aiden recognized as one he shouldnotignore. “What are you hiding? I know that look.”
Aiden lifted his shoulder in a half shrug. “What look?” He took a drink from his beer.
“The lookandthe silence. You clearly don’t want me to know something.” Rafe now had the voice that he always used when he knew Aiden had done something wrong and was just waiting for him to come clean.
Aiden sighed. “Okay. So, Quinn doesn’t exactly know who I am.” He put the beer down and rubbed his brow. “He owns this cleaning business. I went in looking for a housekeeper, and I figured I could get close to him, and maybe, I don’t know, that would help me get to know the triplets. It could work, but it’s going to take some time. I’m only on the first stage.”
Why did saying that out loud made Aiden feel like dirt?
Rafe shook his head. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Aiden groaned. “Papa, nothing is going to happen. I just want to get to know my children.”
“Aiden, there’s a fine line here.” Rafe’s face was serious . “I hate to say this, son, but most people will say that you gave up the right to get to know them the moment you donated your sperm. It might be best if you stopped thinking of them as ‘your’ children. They’ve been raised by the omega that carried them all these years, and they know nothing about you. He may not ever plan on telling them the truth of how they came about.”
“Maybe.” Aiden sighed, because his papa wasn’t saying anything he hadn’t already said to himself, but he was resolute. “We’ve been through this before. Please, all I ask is that you respect my decision for the moment. If things go belly up, then you can come and call me five kinds of idiot.”
Rafe’s eyes bored into him, but Aiden refused to look away. Finally, his papa relented and nodded. “Okay. The last thing I am going to say on it is that I think it may be best to leave this be. I don’t want to see you get hurt, and Idon’twant you to hurt that man or his children.”
The last part was said in a soft voice, and that told Aiden his papa was thinking about Aiden’s own sperm donor.
“I promise I won’t hurt him papa, and I’m not going to get hurt. And I’ll be damned if I let my... Quinn’s children get hurt. It’s going to be fine. You’ll see. Besides, don’t you want to meet your grandkids someday?”
