He grabbed some clothes to change into for bed, and once he was dressed, he sat down on the edge of the mattress. He lifted the picture of Barry from the nightstand, looked down at it, and smiled.
The crippling sadness that had been a permanent companion had lessened, but Quinn still missed his husband. Barry was the love of his life. They’d met in high school and gotten married the day after graduation. Immediately after the ceremony, his husband had signed up to be a soldier. It had always been his dream.
Quinn closed his eyes as he thought back. From the first moment they met, they’d been fast friends, and somewhere along the line, it had become more, and he’d fallen for his best friend.
One thing both he and Barry longed to have was a family. With Quinn being a foster kid and Barry an only child, it was their dream to bring children into the world and lavish them with everything they’d never had. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as easy for a beta to get an omega pregnant. They struggled for a long time into their marriage until they opted to take matters into their own hands.
They went the route of getting a sperm donor. Once the decision was made, it took only three sessions at the fertility clinic before they learned they had triplets on the way. Sadly, Barry had been killed in action and was gone before the babies were even born, so Quinn was left to raise them all alone—not that Quinn ever regretted the decision of having them. They were the three things that reminded Quinn of Barry every day, regardless of whether or not they were biologically his.
He traced Barry’s picture with his finger, and his eyes closed, imagining his husband’s face in his mind. “I’ll never forget you,” he whispered.
Even though he tried to push it away, the day he was given the news that Barry had been killed flashed through his mind. He’d thought he would go mad. If it wasn’t for the babies he carried, Quinn wasn’t sure… He shook his head. Nope, he wasn’t going there.
Quinn had locked the memories of how it all ended into a box in the back of his mind. He would always hold all the good times close and keep the promise to never forget him. To this day, he still meant that.
He heard the shuffling of feet, then his door was pushed wider, and he felt the light from the hallway brighten his dark room even with his eyes closed.
A small voice, almost a whisper, asked, “Will you tell me a story, Papa?” Quinn didn’t have to open his eyes to know his son Keith’s voice.
When he opened his eyes and looked at his son, he quirked a brow. “I thought you were sleeping,” Quinn said, chuckling and sitting up to replace the picture frame in its usual spot.
Keith smiled wide. “I was, but I heard you come in.”
“Me too,” Haley said.
“Me three,” Leo added.
Quinn laughed. He should have known this would happen. He rarely missed bedtime. “Of course you did. Alright… come here, and I’ll tell you a story, but just one.”
“How about one for each of us,” Haley, ever the negotiator, said. She was the one that kept him on his toes more than the boys, but he loved it and would never complain.
“Get up here.” He picked her up and pulled her onto the bed as the two boys scurried up and settled around him. “I’ll tell you about the story of the bravest man I ever knew,” Quinn started.
“I know about this one,” Keith said. “It’s about our dad.”
Quinn smiled. “He was the bravest man in the whole universe. He would do anything for anyone, because he wanted to make sure the ones he loved were protected, and I was one of the lucky ones.” Quinn’s heart hurt, but he held it together for his kids. “I was the one he loved the most. But one day, this brave soldier and I decided we wanted to be blessed with children. We wanted a family so much, and our hearts were open to making this happen however we could.” He didn’t go into all the details. “Then, one day, we found out that we were going to be having not one, but three little babies. And we were so happy. One last time, this brave soldier made a promise, that he would go and protect his family. He went back to fight the bad guys, and because he loved us so much, he fought really hard to make sure we would always be protected.” Quinn sniffed before adding, “Isn’t that amazing?”
“It sure is,” Leo said. “He really loved us, but he didn’t even know us.”
Quinn wrapped his arms around his three kids. “That’s right, but his love for you was boundless.” And Quinn meant that too. There was none greater.
God, he wished Barry was here. It hadn’t been this bad in a long time. Maybe it was because of the horrible date, or maybe Quinn was just tired of being strong with no one to lean on.
2
Aiden
Aiden glanced at his watch and groaned.
“If you keep checking your watch, the doctor will never come,” Rafe, Aiden’s omega papa said, arching an eyebrow in Aiden’s direction.
“Thirty minutes,” Aiden said. “Why do they insist on keeping a patient waiting for so long?”
Rafe smiled. “Son, just have patience. I know you’re nervous.”
Aiden shot him a look. “I’m not nervous,” he refuted. “I just want to get this over with. The doctor said there’s a good chance that I may have to have another round of chemo. I just want to know if I do.”
Rafe snickered. “Yeah, you’re the picture of calm and tranquility. I can see that,” his papa teased. “It must be someone else that’s been pacing for the last thirty minutes, wearing a hole in the carpet.”
