Steal Me (Longshadows Book 1) by Natalia Banks

Author:Natalia Banks [Banks, Natalia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-08-07T16:00:00+00:00

Jeremy and Anton Le Deux sat on the other side of Griffin’s desk in his study, Lorraine sitting nearby. The polished walnut panelling and bookshelves gave the room a sleekness without sacrificing the warmth of all that wood, the coziness of the books and the family photos hanging on the walls. Lorraine, Ashe, Kayla and Griffin smiled out from behind the glass panes, from the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a mountaintop in Sweden, wearing cheesy Mickey Mouse ear hats during their weekend at Disney World.

Jeremy leaned forward from his chair, his husband Anton quiet and nodding next to him. “We don’t mean to intrude, Grif,” Jeremy said. “You’ve already been so kind, so generous.”

“It’s okay, Jeremy. You’re like family, we always want to help anyway we can.” Griffin assured.

Anton nodded, his tall, lean body bend forward from one of the two chairs pulled up to the other side of the desk. His long black dreadlocks hung over his dark face. “Irie, big up!”

“And we wouldn’t bother either of you, but we really don’t have anywhere else to turn,” Jeremy said hesitantly.

Sitting behind his desk, fingers tented in front of his chin, Griffin asked, “What do you need, Jeremy?”

“Well,” he said nervously, biting his lower lip, “taking care of your kids has just been so great, such a blessing, and watching Lorraine being such a good mother, it’s kind of made me think that Anton and I would like to raise a child, too.”

Griffin and Lorraine glanced at one another, neither certain of the source of Jeremy’s nervousness.

“And we wish you the best,” Griffin said. “You’re talking about adoption, or a surrogate? You’re not thinking of Lorraine to carry your — ”

“No no,” Jeremy said, waving his hand in front of his face to help erase the idea, “not that at all. We’ve looked into adoption, but it’s really hard for men in our situation.”

Lorraine said, “You’re legally married. There aren’t any legal problems with adopting, are there?”

“It’s legal, if that’s what you mean. And we’ve already done as much paperwork as we can on it. But let’s face it, there are thousands of straight couples waiting for newborns, even young babies. We’re also a mixed-race couple, and Anton wasn’t a citizen until we married. And he’s Jamaican, another unspoken check against us.”

“What about an older kid, or the foster care program? There are a lot of needy kids who’d be thrilled to have two fine fathers like you. I know they’re always looking for foster families.”

“Traditional families,” Jeremy said. “At least most adoption agencies are private. The foster care system is run by the government, and that’s a whole other bureaucracy.”

“Tell me about it,” Lorraine said, shaking her head. “The public library system’s the same way, the Education Department, too.”

Griffin asked, “You don’t know anybody … present company excluded … who might carry a child, one with your own DNA? There are private surrogates, but I don’t imagine they come very cheap.”

“Twenty thousand dollars,” Jeremy said, “and up.”

Griffin glanced at Lorraine, then back at Jeremy and Anton.

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