The Solstice Mistletoe Effect (4 page)

“Of course we’ll stick with it. But it means that others

will think less of me. Add that to the fact that we’re two men

living together, and they really don’t like us.” What Lance

was really worried about was feeling lonely. He’d always had

lots of friends, but most of the guys he’d grown up with were

married and had families of their own now. They wouldn’t

welcome him or Magnus into their “normal” little world.

“Does it bother you that much?” Magnus had finished

eating and leaned back in his chair, looking puzzled.

“Mostly when it affects Jakob.” Lance had eaten as

much as he was able to, so he cleared the table.

“Why would it affect him?” Magnus helped him load the

dishwasher.

“He’s not only been laughed at for having two dads, he’s

also had several comments about me being a coward

because I don’t have a real job.” Lance made coffee without

really thinking about what he was doing.

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“It sounds to me as though people here live behind the

times. We’re going to have to talk about this with Mr. Harris

so he can keep an eye on what’s going on in Jakob’s class.

Probably Ms. Rutherford as well, see what she thinks could

or should be done.” Magnus took their dessert, two slices of

delicious-looking cherry cake, into the living room, setting

them on the low coffee table. Lance followed him with the

coffee. “But not tonight. This time should be ours. Do you

think we can forget the world out there for awhile and focus

on us?”

Lance admired Magnus’s well-muscled form as his lover

took a seat on the sofa and opened his arms in unmistakable

invitation. Lance nodded and snuggled close. He loved those

strong arms around him. He put his head against Magnus’s

chest and listened to his strong heartbeat. He wanted to

forget.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Magnus chuckled, making

Lance’s heart beat faster with the vibrations. He’d accept a

lot of suffering in the outside world as long as he had

Magnus to support him at home.

IT WAS a couple of weeks later, spring still a long way from

becoming reality, when Jakob brought up the topic of their

summer holiday. They were playing a game of Sorry!, Jakob’s

favorite. As usual, Jakob was winning.

“Yay, three down, only one more to go!” Jakob hooted in

triumph as he moved another one of his tokens past the

finish line.

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“You’re unbelievable!” Magnus groaned in mock-defeat.

“You’re as bad as my dad.”

“Don’t you mean as good as Granddad?” Jakob looked

triumphant.

“You mean there’s someone else who’s a master at this

game like Jakob?” Lance drew a card and studied his

options. Nothing would allow him to get even his first token

across the finish line.

“Oh yes.” Magnus nodded as he watched Lance move

his front token two spaces forward, just missing one of

Magnus’s. “My dad and Jakob had the most epic battles two

summers ago. They were pretty much evenly matched.”

“Can we go again this summer? Please?” Jakob looked

so hopeful that Lance just knew Magnus wouldn’t be able to

say no.

“I don’t know. I guess it depends.” Magnus took a card

but didn’t make his move yet. “If Lance wants to come with

us, I think it might be nice to go there for the Midsummer

Eve celebrations. There’s nothing to stop us this time, not

like last year when we couldn’t go because of my training

with the National Park Service. And since Midsummer Eve is

celebrated on the twenty-fifth of June, school will be out and

we could all go.”

“Yes!” Jakob turned his sky blue eyes toward Lance.

“Please, Lance, can we go?”

Lance felt a little overwhelmed by the sudden

suggestion. He hadn’t thought about what they’d do for

summer break; it still seemed so far away. And he definitely

hadn’t considered going to a foreign country. But it was

probably different for Jakob. It sounded like he’d been

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before, and who was he to deny Jakob the opportunity to see

his grandparents? And Magnus probably wanted to see his

parents.

“You both really want to go, don’t you?” How was he

supposed to resist the pleading look in Jakob’s big blue

eyes?

“I do!” Jakob started bouncing on his chair. “You’ll love

it, Lance. It stays light forever and ever. And there’s lots of

fun things to do. Granddad’s house is close to water and

there’s rowboats and if it’s warm enough we can even go

swimming.”

Lance looked at Magnus, waiting for his lover’s answer.

“I would like to go too. It’s a great time of year to visit,

and the Midsummer Eve celebrations are a lot of fun. My

mother loves preparing all the different traditional dishes,

and my father usually decorates the house to the nines.”

Magnus looked thoughtful. “But we don’t have to go if you

don’t want to. I realize that this is a bit sudden for you. We

can take some time to think about it, can’t we, Jakob?”

“But….” Jakob stopped midsentence, sighed, and

nodded. “I guess we don’t have to decide today.”

“That’s okay.” With both his lover and Jakob being so

enthusiastic, there was no way Lance could say no. “I guess

we’re going to Sweden for the summer break.”

“Yes!” Jakob’s scream was ear-shattering. Why was it

that children’s voices were so loud? “Thank you so much,

Lance!”

Jakob left his chair and ran around the table toward

Lance, small arms wide open. Lance caught him and was

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given one of Jakob’s special hugs. He looked up and saw

Magnus smile at them, clearly happy as well.

ON THE last day of school, about a week before their flight to

Stockholm, Lance picked up Jakob as usual. He felt a lot

less intimidated now than he had a few months ago. Some

parents were still staring at him, but there were far fewer

than there’d been at the beginning of the year. And Jakob

hadn’t reported any major issues with bullies for quite a

while. It looked as though they’d settled in quite nicely.

“Finally!” The car door flew open, and Jakob threw his

backpack onto the floor and settled himself inside. “Summer

break, here we come!”

“Hello, Jakob.” Lance grinned as he watched the boy

pull the door closed behind him and buckle himself in. “Are

you sure you won’t be bored without all your friends?”

“No way! Not with us going to see Farfar Enar and

Farmor Carine! There’s always so much to do, and they make

sure we have a good time.” Jakob frowned. “But you’re right,

I’ll still miss some of my friends. I’ll just have to catch up

with them when we get back.”

“So, have you decided what to do with your week before

we leave?” Lance started the short drive home.

“I’m sure you and Uncle Magnus will have some chores

for me.” Jakob sighed, looking very put-upon.

“Yes, we do. The most important of which will be your

Swedish lessons.” Lance was looking forward to their week of

intense learning. He’d done a bit over the last few months,

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but he still felt inadequate and wanted to do a much better

job over the next week. It wouldn’t feel right to meet

Magnus’s parents and not be able to speak any of their

language.

“I know. Uncle Magnus kept reminding me, remember?”

Jakob smiled. “It’ll be the both of us this time. I can’t wait to

see you do homework.”

Lance grinned. Leave it to Jakob to find the funny side

of things. He still felt a little uneasy about going to a strange

country, meeting people that both his lover and Jakob knew.

Would they accept him? Would they think less of him

because he didn’t have a full-time paid job? Would they

accept their only surviving son having a man as a life

partner?

That evening, after Jakob had been put to bed and

Lance had finished cleaning the kitchen, Magnus joined him

on their deck to enjoy a glass of wine.

“You look worried, älskling.” Magnus had become scarily

adept at picking up Lance’s moods. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m not really worried.” It didn’t even sound convincing

to his own ears.

“Why do I have trouble believing you?” Magnus put his

arm around Lance’s shoulders and pulled him close. “Did

something happen when you picked Jakob up from school

today?”

“No, it’s got nothing to do with school. It’s really

ridiculous, actually. I’ve got no reason to worry about our

visit with your parents, have I?” Lance leaned into his lover’s

warmth and took a deep breath.

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“But you’re still not comfortable with the idea?” Magnus

stroked Lance’s shoulder with small movements. “If it really

bothers you, we can still cancel.”

“You would do that?” Lance was touched. But he wasn’t

going to interfere with Jakob seeing his grandparents just

because he was a little queasy. And he wasn’t going to stand

between Magnus and his parents either.

“Sure I would.” Magnus pushed a finger under his chin

and lifted his face so he had to look at those silver-blue eyes.

He could see nothing but honesty in them. “I want you to be

happy. That’s the only thing that really counts. And if flying

to a foreign country and seeing my parents scares you, we’ll

change our plans.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?” Lance still couldn’t believe

his luck at finding such a giving, generous lover.

“Very serious.” Magnus brushed his lips across Lance’s,

making Lance shiver in anticipation of more. “There’s

nothing more important to me than your happiness.”

“I love you, baby.” Lance tilted his head and kissed

Magnus’s lips. “Thank you for making the offer. It means a

lot to me. But I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“As long as you’re sure.” Magnus looked down at him,

his eyes serious.

The kiss that followed was more passionate, the one

after that scorching. Very soon, their need made them move

into their bedroom. They spent a long time expressing their

love for each other that night in the gentlest, most tender

ways they could think of.

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Chapter Four

MAGNUS leaned back into the comfortable leather seats of

the limo, one arm around Lance’s shoulders and the other

holding onto an exhausted Jakob. Their total travel time,

including a layover in Chicago, had been almost nineteen

hours. While he was more used to it than Lance and Jakob

because he’d done more traveling while he was still working

for the University of Stockholm, he was still exhausted.

“It was nice of your parents to send a limo.” Lance

yawned. “I’ve never been in one before, and it certainly beats

taking the train.”

“You don’t think it’s a bit overdone?” Magnus hated it

when his parents flaunted their wealth like this. He’d hoped

they would pick them up themselves, but he should have

known better. It was Saturday morning, and they’d both be

busy with preparations for the weekend, especially with

them visiting.

“Well, yes, I guess. But I’m too tired to be able to really

hate it.” Lance dropped his head against Magnus’s shoulder.

“I can’t believe how exhausted I am. We’ve done nothing but

sit around, and I even slept for a few hours.”

“It won’t be much longer now.” Magnus looked out the

window. They were about to leave the highway, and it would

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only be another ten minutes from the exit to his parents’

house on Ferievägen. “You do remember that we’re not

supposed to sleep until the evening?”

“But it’s only nine a.m.—surely a short nap wouldn’t be

a problem?” Lance looked so hopeful, Magnus knew it was

going to be difficult to insist.

“If we do sleep, we’ll never get used to the new time

zone. It’s better to stay awake and switch to the new rhythm

right away. Jetlag can be awful, believe me; I’ve had to deal