Surrounded by flowers,Saar wore low slung pants as he pulled at weeds. I watched on the deck for a while, just admiring the way his skin glistened with sweat. While there wasn’t direct sunlight with the clouds hanging low and dark overhead, that didn’t stop his skin from shimmering.
I leaned against the rail as I watched, smiling in admiration. All families seemed to have a ‘head of house’ and harems truly tended to embody that. With so many differing personalities and opinions, it really took a level mind and logical sense to get everyone on the right page and harmonious.
While I always imagined that task to be daunting and frustrating, Saar did so with the ease of a man born into that role. Sometimes he settled arguments without anyone realizing he’d done so until I sat back and just grinned. He’d winked at me, knowing just what I figured out. Saar was the peacekeeper, but he was fair and decisive.
He was also kind and hardworking. Took a lot of our stress on his own shoulders to take care of it. I’ve seen him do so with No’s frustration with his car. Too irritated to get it fixed, Saar had it done while Notus was at work, so he didn’t have to.
It was little things like that. Things that he didn’t have to take on, but did. Because he loved his husbands. And making their lives easier meant he was taking care of them. It was fulfilling to him.
I knew this because one of my fathers was the same way. My mom used to get so irritated at having to do laundry. Daily. All day. So instead of letting my mother fixate on chores, he outsourced. Hired someone to come in and just do laundry every other day.
He followed this up with cooking and cleaning services, too. When I asked him why one day, he smiled and nodded toward my mom. “She loves to stay home and take care of you kids. It’s a full-time job in and of itself. It’s not fair to ask her to do everything around the house.”
“But we can all do it, too,” I said.
“Sure. But isn’t it better when we can spend time together instead?”
I nodded, watching my mom as she greeted the laundry helper. “Besides. Look at the way your mom smiles when the weight of something trivial to us is taken off her shoulders.” His smile was just as relieved and happy. And also filled with pride.
Saar was the same way.
I made my way to him. He looked up with a smile. Resting my hand on his shoulder, I dropped to my knees beside him and started pulling weeds alongside him.
“We can always hire someone for this,” I said. “You shouldn’t have to weed the flowers.”
He chuckled and sat back on his heels. Wrapping an arm around me, he smiled and kissed the side of my head. For a minute, we just looked at the garden. Filled with wonderful smells and gently dancing flowers on the low breeze.
“I do hire someone,” he said. “They’re here every week. Sometimes I just need something to keep my hands busy and not think for a bit.”
I knew that, actually. They hire out all the chores they don’t want to do. And yet, especially in the last week, I’ve seen every one of my men doing something menial. Like dusting a pristinely clean piano, just to keep busy and turn off their constant worry.
A flower pressed under my nose, and I opened my eyes. Saar smiled again, a sweet, swoony look on his handsome face. He held a tulip to me. I closed my eyes to take in the scent before looking at him again.
He rested his forehead against mine and we stayed like that for a long time surrounded by flowers and just being together.
* * *
The kettle whistled,and I pulled it from the burner, quickly turning it off. With a spoonful of honey and a tea bag in my mug, I poured the boiling water in before setting it back on the stove. Then I stared into my cup, watching as the water slowly turned darker. Tinted orange. Citrus and honey in heavy steam filled my lungs.
A hand on my hip made me look up. Gale smiled. It was small and tired as he moved behind me, wrapping me in his arms and resting his head against mine.
“Hungry?” he asked.
I swear, he wanted to feed us all. All the time. Except… yeah, I was hungry.
Grinning, I nodded. “Yep.”
He kissed my cheek and moved away. While my tea steeped, I watched him move through the kitchen. He handed me a bowl and then tossed herbs and seasoning mixes at me. I laughed, trying to catch them and dumping them on the counter before another came at me.
Then he moved me along the counter and boxed me in again while he handed me the little jars. We poured and tossed and mixed different seasonings, herbs, and salt into a bowl before he pointed to the fridge. “Grab the chicken strips?”
I nodded as he scooped up spices and put them away. We met again, and he covered my hands in gloves before doing his. Together, we peeled open the chicken and dropped it into the mix. It was slimy and kind of gross as we massaged them together. Making sure they were evenly coated and covered completely.
Then he brought me a rack on a baking sheet. I laid out the strips as he peeled his gloves off and turned the oven on. The chicken went in, and we turned to cut other things. Grapes, dried cranberries, walnuts, scallions.
By the time the chicken was done, we had a large bowl full of a weird variety of foods. Gale had me mix it together while he shredded the chicken with forks and tossed it into the bowl. Lastly, he pulled out mayonnaise, a big spoon, and moved behind me again.
Took me long enough to figure out we were making chicken salad for sandwiches. With his arms around my waist, his mouth brushing soft kisses to my shoulder and neck, I scooped out mayo, and dumped it into the bowl. I mixed it, adding more until there was the right consistency before leaning back into his arms.
