Read I Heard Him Exclaim Online
Authors: Z. A. Maxfield
Tags: #M/M Holiday Contemporary, #Source: Amazon
I Heard Him Exclaim (11 page)
One Year Later
Chandler tried to look discreet as he sauntered away from the laundry room and back toward the main party. He hoped Steve would wait a few minutes before he came out. There was no point in everyone knowing what they’d been doing. He turned the corner and bumped into Steve’s brother Dave, whose first words confirmed his deepest fears.
“I know what you’ve been up to.”
Chandler rolled his eyes.
“Seriously, dude. Newlyweds. Enjoy it while you can.”
Dave’s wife joined them, and they seemed to be waiting for Steve to come out.
“Good laundry weather,” she finally said, all innocence.
They busted a gut laughing when Steve came out of the laundry room with a stack of towels, attempting to look as though he’d had a purpose for being in there.
“Very funny.” Steve put the towels down and took Chandler’s hand. “We’ll be with the grownups, if you want us.”
Chandler followed him back into the living room where the eldest Adams and his wife held court. The rest of the family swirled around them in a kaleidoscope of holiday colors, everyone dressed their best for Mass, after which there would be dessert and one present, a family tradition, then the kids would try to sleep through their excitement over Santa’s impending arrival.
“Suckers,” Chandler whispered into Steve’s ear. “I make Santa come for me all year round…” He felt a tug on his jacket and turned.
“So. You have matching ties.” Steve’s mother straightened Chandler’s tie and gave his lapels a little brush with her hands.
Chandler kissed her cheek. “They go with Poppy’s dress.”
“I saw that.” She shot him her mom smile. His mom had one just like it. It said
you did well. I love you. You make me happy.
He let her pick up his hand. “And these.”
Chandler grinned when he looked at his ring. He and Steve had exchanged rings around Thanksgiving, and it had apparently not gone unnoticed. “Yeah.”
“Are you going to have a commitment ceremony?”
Steve saved him from having to answer that. “Nah. It’s not about ceremonies. We know what we are.”
Chandler admitted the truth. “I just got tired of all the poachers going after my Santa. No wonder the real Mrs. Claus keeps her guy so fat.”
“Well, if you change your mind, don’t worry about naysayers. I would love to see you two have a wedding, and fuck the assholes.”
Chandler’s mind was drawing him a perfect mental picture of her words.
Steve’s mom frowned a little. “That sounded a lot better in my head.”
Poppy called his name and he glanced around. He located her by the fireplace mantle. She waved to him. So pretty, still like a doll, but maybe this year she wasn’t so solemn. “Uncle Chandler, come and see, they found my stocking from last year and we’re hanging it up.”
“Just a sec, Poptart.” He turned back to Steve’s mother. “Hold that thought. I need to go check this out.”
He made his way through the crowd. Apparently, all the kids hung a stocking at Grandma and Grandpa’s place as well as the ones they had in their own homes. Chandler’s mother had done a lovely needlepoint stocking. It had been hanging in pride of place at Steve and Chandler’s house since Thanksgiving. The same night they’d hung it up, they’d exchanged rings and decided to go through the formal process of adopting Poppy—both of them—cementing their family together legally and with an eye toward forever.
He took in the fuzzy red-and-white stocking Poppy held now, her name clumsily written on it in glitter glue. There were plastic rhinestones stuck all over it and as she hung it up on a hook in the mantle, one fell off.
They’d begun their family when she made that—an entire year had passed since then, he could hardly believe it. His gaze roamed the room until it landed on Steve, the man who’d given him all this and so much more.
“Thank you,” he mouthed.
Steve nodded toward him, then mouthed back, “‘Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.’”
Z.A. Maxfield started writing in 2007 on a dare from her children and never looked back. Pathologically disorganized, and perennially optimistic, she writes as much as she can, reads as much as she dares, and enjoys her time with family and friends. If anyone asks her how a wife and mother of four manages to find time for a writing career, she’ll answer, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you give up housework.”
Her published books include
Crossing Borders
, Epic Award finalist
St. Nacho’s
,
Drawn Together, Physical Therapy, Blue Fire, Fugitive Color
and
Jacob’s Ladder,
from Loose Id;
The Long Way Home
, from Aspen Mountain Press;
ePistols at Dawn,
from Samhain Publishing; and
Notturno, Stirring Up Trouble
and
Vigil,
from MLR Press. Readers can visit her website at http://www.zamaxfield.com.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9095-6
Copyright © 2010 by Z.A. Maxfield
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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