He looked at me. "Yes, in short, but I'd rather have a longer discussion about it another time."
"Oh." I was surprised. He'd obviously thought about it to know he needed to talk about it.
Jackson shook his head. "No, there's nothing the matter, not as far as I know anyway. But if I talk about having children, I'll start thinking about how they're made and making one with you and then I'll need a cold shower. Or to be inside you."
I laughed. "Just think about sleepless nights and dirty nappies, homework and Saturday mornings at swimming lessons and only being able to go on holiday when it's school holidays and four times the price..."
"That's helped." He kept hold of me. "Do you want children?"
With you, yes."Yes, I think so. It's not something I thought would happen with Richard."
"But with me?"
"Yes. Let's have this conversation another time. When we're at yours with the curtains open and a bottle of Chianti." I tugged at his t-shirt. "Let's go."
The family was scattered around the kitchen, Ed at the grill and hob, cooking eggs, bacon, and sausage. Claire looked half human, a glass of some effervescent vitamin next to her and greasy looking fried bread in front. She smiled knowingly. "Seph has big ears. He knows everything."
"What does he know?" Jackson said. "Enlighten us." He passed me a plate and gestured to the pile of toast. I shook my head, keeping track of my carbs as the gym was off the menu for the weekend.
Seph coughed, drawing the attention to himself. "I overheard that Vanessa was moving in with you."
"So, you've told everyone?" Jackson said. I saw Marie's expression lighting up and figured she was desperate to scream and hug her stepson, then squeeze my bones too. "What if what you heard was us discussing it and Van had said no, that it was too soon?"
"I've got good hearing. If I had any doubts I'd have made up something completely outlandish, like Van was pregnant with twins, a boy and girl who you were naming Joseph and Payton," Seph said, stepping over and picking up several rashers of bacon and a couple of sausages from a plate that Marie had just put down.
"There's no way any child would be named after you," Max said, drinking what looked like beetroot juice. "We definitely wouldn't have believed that."
"Besides, Jackson and I agreed we'd name any child after the other," Claire said. "He wouldn't renege on that."
"Trust me, Claire, I would. Seph heard right. We're moving in together in a few weeks, after the retirement ball. Can we move on to something else now so she doesn't change her mind when she finally realizes what a ward of lunatics I have for a family," Jackson said, passing me a couple of rashers of bacon and a sausage. My stomach rumbled appreciatively.
"No," Claire said, swinging around a barstool. "I want to know how you're going to furnish that place? It's like Switzerland, it's that neutral."
I laughed and the attention on us started to disintegrate. Marie came over and hugged me as predicted. Ed smiled and gave me a slight nod, which I interpreted as his approval and then Killian came in, having been sent to the shop for more milk, which caused Claire to start being verbally abusive towards him, again.
"What's with Claire and Killian?" I asked Payton when we took our breakfasts outside in the warm sunshine. The day was promising after the heavy showers of the night before.
"No one knows," Payton said. "Killian was Max's roommate at university and Claire used to stay with him for weekends. They were fine up until Claire's second year when for some reason they fell out and since then he can't do anything right. Only Claire would hold a grudge for twelve years."
"What does Max say about it?"
Payton shrugged. "Nothing. He doesn't get involved unless he has to and he says he has no idea why she's so nasty to him, although Killian does give as good as he gets when he can be bothered. I think she's mad: I've crushed on Killian since I was about twelve. He looks like Thor with short hair and I've seen him naked on a couple of occasions. You'd totally ditch my brother. No vibrator could ever compete with what he has between his legs," she gestured an obscene length with her hands, adding both together to give me an idea of girth.
"Payton, how on earth did you see all that?"
"I might have been fifteen and curious. I was exceptionally good at hiding and being stealth-like. He has spoilt me for every other man," she said, lounging back and sighing loudly. "He knows I saw him, by the way. I told him a couple of years ago. Max wasn't impressed."
"That doesn't surprise me. And what you gestured would hurt," I said, clamping my legs together at the thought.
"Plenty of lube would help," Payton said thoughtfully. "I did some research on the internet and I'm pretty sure your body would become accustomed to it as long as the man knew what he was doing. But then you'd be wrecked for any other."
"I think we should pause this conversation until after we've had alcohol," I said. "Lots and lots of alcohol and then I'm going to introduce you to my friend, Sophie, who keeps notes on the different penises she's encountered over the years."
Payton's eyes lit up. "Really? She sounds fun." I made a mental note to make sure Sophie knew how young Payton was and would therefore not encourage her to follow in her woman whoring ways. Not that I judged Sophie: she enjoyed what she did and was remarkably self-assured and well balanced, but Payton was Jackson's baby sister and there had to be a line somewhere.
"She is. She also owns Stream Spas, so she's useful to know," I said, the topic of conversation firmly away from the size of Killian's penis.
"Your friend Sophie?" Claire said, coming to join us. "Isn't she the one who keeps notes on different dicks?"
