Beloved: A Henry Dawncraft Novel |boyxboy| Sequel to Lover for Pay

Epilogue

Five years later

Henry stood at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed over his chest as the minutes continued to pass him by. By no means was he in a rush to get a move on, but you'd think someone who'd initially rushed him to get ready would be ready to go before everyone else. While he wasn't necessarily impatient, a pinch of it was picked up with the shift of his weight, and when he heard a soft, distant giggle come from behind him, he glanced over his shoulder at the little black-haired boy sitting on the living room sofa.

It was like looking at a picture of himself when he was the same size. With his head of dark hair grown to his shoulders, dark brown eyes, and those chubby cheeks as he smiled brightly, Dimitri Vladu-Dawncraft was a spitting image of Henry at the age of five.

Hurry up! Henry read when the boy motioned his little hands. Dad is taking too long.

I know, Henry signed, mouthing the words as well when he added: Go tell him to hurry up.

With an excited smile on his bubbly face, Dimitri put down the cell phone he'd been borrowing and rushed by. Henry watched with a chuckle as his son climbed and darted further away, and only a couple seconds later did he hear Daniel's voice when he said, "Are you rushing me, young man? You are? Maybe if your father could put the laundry away like I asked him, we could be across the street already. Go tell him that."

Whoops, Henry thought. He'd been so preoccupied with the video game he'd been playing downstairs since morning that he hadn't remembered.

When Dimitri appeared at the top of the stairs again, the little boy shook his head and looked awkwardly at Henry with an amused smile. You're in trouble, he signed before making his way down again.

Reaching out for Dimitri when the boy was near enough, Henry helped him down the rest of the way, and then came Daniel a after him. Dressed in dark jeans and a graphic T-shirt, he glared towards his husband as he descended the stairs. "Did he tell you you're in trouble?" he asked.

"Yup."

"Good," Daniel stepped by Henry toward a large kitchen area, grabbing a set of keys atop the counter. "Now you can be on laundry duty for the rest of the month. Anyways, let's hurry up. I told London I'd help him with the chocolate babka since he already prepared the dough."

With the keys in hand, they were all already heading for the door when the bell rang, and with the ring came the quick flicker of a light that announced to Dimitri that someone rang it in the first place. Excitedly, the little boy unlocked and opened the door himself.

"Hi!" Ozzy waved, always having the brightest of smiles the world has ever seen. Now eleven, the curly-haired blonde boy gestured with haste. Ready to play in the water? he asked his little cousin, and it always surprised Henry and Daniel how well Ozzy had picked up sign language.

While they liked to consider themselves pretty fluent in it now, especially since they were also teaching what they could and learning alongside Dimitri, they'd discovered the effort Ozzy put into learning the language after London and Marbell told them about his late night study sessions.

"Uncle Dorian threw Joyce in earlier and she—," he laughed, and said, "kicked him down there by accident."

"Oh, jeez," Daniel nodded them along and locked the door behind them.

Daniel and Henry watched the two boys run together to the massive house not far across the street. Theirs and London's and Marbell's home were the only two on the dead-end block, so it was always so nice to be able to watch Dimitri from the front door as he ran to his uncle's house, or they never had to worry when all the kids were playing on their own. This neighborhood was by far the most secure and guarded place for them, and Henry was thankful everyday he was able to have everyone in his family so close at all times.