Mati grinned.
David definitely had a favorite Viveiros brother, even if he was nosey as all hell.
“I’m American,” he called back.
“I can help get you a work permit,” Chaz volunteered. He paused. “That is, if I’m still an attorney.”
Reese leaned back to shout into the living room. “We’ll see about that.” He faced David again. “You could marry me. That would help.”
David froze. “What?”
Mati laughed. “Oh my god, Reese, that is the worst proposal ever. Also, maybe he should marryme.”
David was distantly aware of the absolute silence in the living room.
“I’ll do a better job of it later, when I ask you both properly,” Reese promised. “But legally speaking, I think he should marry me.”
“Why?” Mati challenged, bright laughter in her eyes.
David swallowed, trying to wet his dust-dry mouth. “Uh, guys, maybe we should discuss this somewhere more private…”
Reese waved his hand as if it were obvious. “I need to marry one of you to see that my property and estate goes to you, then on to our children, and since you’re already a Canadian citizen, it makes sense.”
“Children?” David said, his knees going weak.
“Children?” Mati’s mother echoed in the next room.
Mati nodded. “That’s a good point.”
“Who’s having children?” David asked, heart pounding.
“That will be me,” Mati said, patting David’s chest. “Don’t argue. You won’t win that one.”
Reese laughed.
“Okay,” David agreed.
Reese held him tighter. “Mati and I can work anywhere. Here. Boston. The middle of the Atlantic. If you need to be in Boston, we’ll be in Boston. If you want to keep working for Chance, we’ll find a way to be in Boston a lot.”
“I don’t want that,” David said, finally admitting the truth after far too long.
Mati cocked her head. “Us in Boston?”
“No! I want that. I do. But I don’t want to work for Chance anymore. He’s family and I love him, but the work…”
Reese kissed David’s cheek and Mati squeezed his hand.
They knew.
“You don’t have to,” Reese said. “You can start a new career. You can go into produce, apparently. Or you can sit and eat bonbons forever. Or,” Reese added more slowly, “you can be home with the children, if that’s what you want.”
“As long as you’re with us,” Mati agreed.
David’s head spun. “I don’t like bonbons.”
Reese and Mati laughed. “Noted,” Reese said.
“I do like the idea of being a stay-at-home dad,” David confessed. “Very, very much.”
