Winning the Lottery - 19. Chapter 19 For better or for worse

The next morning I awoke feeling gloriously cocooned and blissfully content with Derrick spooned against my back. His hand had found its way to my pounding-nails-hard cock and he was running the tips of his fingers up and down its length. His own hard dick was gently rubbing my ass crack.

“Mmmm,” I sighed. “Feels sooo good.”

“Feels good to me too. Gabe, I love you so much.” His warm breath was tickling my neck, just behind my ear, driving me insane. When he started placing gentle kisses there the love fire in my gut flared strong and hot.

“Oh Derrick, I love you so much too. So very much...” I pushed my ass back against his hardness, undulating a little to let him know what I wanted.

“Somebody’s horny this morning,” he teased.

“Look who’s talking,” I chuckled as I rolled to face him. Morning breath be damned, we started making out like two teenagers. We pressed the length of our bodies together enjoying that silky, slippery feeling that our skin and body hair created.

“I. Need. You. To. Fuck. Me.” I begged between kisses.

“Really? Now aren’t we just demanding this morning?” He pulled his lips away from mine and aimed them towards my nipples, kissing and licking left and right.

I responded by arching my chest toward his lips, silently begging for more. Derrick chuckled deep and low.

“Please!” I begged. “I need you inside me...now!”

“Your wish is my command oh horny one. Gabe, I love you!”

“I love you too! There’s lube in my toilet bag. In the bathroom. Can you get it?”

He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tight moving his hips to frot our erections. “Can’t. Can’t pull away from you. You feel too good.”

I felt the same way. Breaking that wonderful body contact, even for the few seconds it would take to grab the lube, would be unbearable.

With a huge sigh, I said. “Okay, lazy bones, I’ll get it. But you owe me!” I pushed away quickly before I could change my mind and bolted for the bathroom to grab the lube. I considered taking the time to piss but decided my bladder could wait. Fuck first, then pee.

I was back to Derrick in under thirty seconds. He was on his back, so I squeezed some lube onto his dick and spread it along the length. He let out a little hiss of pleasure. Then I swiped a dollop into my ass. I straddled Derrick, aimed his cock in the right direction, and eased down on him millimeter by millimeter. His hands rested just above my hip bones as his face contorted in pleasure. He was breathing heavily through his open mouth. “So beautiful, so wonderful,” I murmured.

I set a slow pace, but even at that, it didn’t take Derrick long—well, somewhere in the vicinity of ten minutes—to reach the point of no return. He let out a primal howl and unloaded into me. His cock pulsed and spurted. His eyes rolled back. I grabbed the crown of my cock and smeared dripping precum over it. That sent me over the edge and I shot so hard I hit Derrick in the chin before subsequent spurts splattered his chest and belly.

I collapsed onto him as our breathing returned to normal and his softening cock—thoroughly lubricated with his own cum—plopped out of my ass.

We lay like that for a while, just enjoying each other, then reluctantly went in the bathroom for our morning piss and shower. For the sake of the environment, we showered together to conserve water (wink).

Derrick had a phone message from the lawyers asking him to call. They needed to send a lawyer up to Moose Lake to take a deposition from the Nikolovs for the upcoming custody clearing. The most expedient course of action was to dispatch the jet to Winnipeg to pick up the lawyer, then take her back later. The plane’s crew were going to have a busy day.

Knowing the Nikolovs were expecting us to pick up Dane for a shopping trip, we hurried to breakfast at the motel’s restaurant.

When we got to the Nikolovs’ we told them about the lawyer coming to obtain their official statements. They didn’t look all that comfortable with the idea, but we assured them it was a necessary step in the process.

Dane was eager to go with us. The relief on the Nikolovs’ faces as they waved goodbye was almost comical. My heart went out to them. They were doing an incredible job of looking after the little guy, but it couldn’t have been easy for them.

Dane objected to being belted into his car seat. I had no idea how to deal with a recalcitrant child. I’d certainly seen my share of them in my medical experience, but I’d always had a ‘team’ to help. It was all trial and error with Dane. In the end we bribed him with the promise of buying him a toy. I hated taking that easy route, but thought that was better than escalating the situation. Once in the car, it only took a few minutes until the novelty of the drive wore off and he began to act up. First he started kicking the back of my seat, which I tried to ignore. After a few minutes (it seemed like a long few minutes to me) of being ignored he got tired of that activity. Then he said he had to pee. “Gotta pee!” So we stopped at the side of the road. Turns out he really didn’t have to pee that badly. Then he objected to being belted into his car seat again. Derrick and I remained calm, we just tag-teamed the broken record technique, saying the same thing in several different ways: we weren’t going anywhere until he got buckled in. Finally we got through to him. When he saw he wasn’t getting a rise out of us he pretty much settled down. But like any small child, he craved attention, so I began to tell him made-up stories. Realizing that this might be a good way of explaining what was happening in his life, I wove the theme of a little boy who got two new dads and flew away to live in a place where it was warm all the time. I emphasized how happy his new dads were that he came into their lives and how much they loved the little boy. I also ‘introduced’ characters that he’d meet once he got there: a new brother named Cass, a new sister named Khala, a new grandma and grandpa, the Foroughis, Alfy, and so forth. About an hour out of Flin Flon he fell asleep.

The scenery along the way was interesting. We passed some wheat farms in the vicinity of The Pas, but around Flin Flon the ground turned rocky with scrub trees and small lakes everywhere. I’d heard of the Canadian Shield before, so it was interesting to me to see it firsthand. I tried to imagine what it might be like in the dead of winter. Cold and bleak most likely.

After just over three hours on the road we arrived in Flin Flon. Derrick turned into the first McDonalds he saw, which was conveniently located near the Walmart and Canadian Tire stores. It had a children’s play area, and after half finishing his Happy Meal, Dane headed there. At first he was hesitant to play with the other children, but soon he’d made friends and was racing around boisterously.

Lunch finished, we walked over to the Canadian Tire store. Derrick, being American, had never had the joy of shopping in Canadian Tire before—truly a Canadian institution—and he expressed surprise at the variety of interesting goods the store carried: everything from car parts and accessories to household appliances. There’s a big hardware section, and there’s even a huge selection of sporting goods. It truly is an all-purpose store. Canadians love Canadian Tire.

We picked up a few toys for Dane. Cute toys, good for make-believe, like a little garage with cars, and a little barn with horses and a corral fence. We also picked up several books, some of which were for younger children, but it was obvious he hadn’t been exposed to written works before, and we needed to start at the ‘beginning.’

At Walmart, Dan was impatient and fussy. Derrick and I took turns ‘distracting’ him, but it was a trial. I was definitely getting the idea that we’d let ourselves in for more than we bargained for; I began to doubt our decision to take him.

Surprisingly, there was no Tim Hortons—another Canadian institution—in Flin Flon, but luckily there was one in The Pas, so on the way home we stopped for coffee and donuts. Having experienced Canadian Tire and Tim Hortons, I declared Derrick to be an honorary Canadian.

Dane had ceased to object to being buckled into his car seat. It seemed like a major victory to me. After our stop at Tim Hortons, I sat in the back seat with him. I read to him from his new books for a while, but the day had tired him out and he slept pretty much the rest of the way home.

That night, with the Nikolovs’ blessing, we had him stay overnight with us in the motel. Dee handed us a small back pack and told us that was ‘all’ his possessions—clothes, toys, everything. When I saw how little he had, I said a prayer of thanks to the universe that Gerard Nikolov had reached out to us; that he had the good sense to realize that Dane deserved the best that life had to offer. I berated myself for having doubts.

That evening, Derrick spoke to Dane, relating my story’s character to Dane himself. He explained that we were going to be his Dads from now on—Daddy Gabe and Daddy Derrick. That tomorrow we would all get in the plane and fly to his new home where it was warm all the time. Dane took the news calmly. He’d already been moved around a lot, so for him this was just another stop along the road, neither good nor bad. It was just the way life was.

He objected to having a bath, so I used the psychology of choice. “Dane, would you like Daddy Gabe, or Daddy Derrick to give you your bath?” I asked three times, but he finally chose Daddy Gabe (yay!), but by making his own choice—it was no longer a simple ‘yes or no’ situation—he’d ‘bought into’ the idea of the bath. I bathed him and got him dressed in his new PJ’s and robe. Then we managed to find The Little Mermaid on the motel’s movie channel and we settled in to watch that. Dane snuggled up between Derrick and me as we sat with our backs against the bed’s headboard. He was mesmerized by the movie and stayed awake through the whole thing. He’d been napping on and off throughout the day and I think Derrick and I were a lot more tired—not to mention emotionally exhausted—than he was.

The motel room had two queen-sized beds so we tucked him into one with his new teddy bear. Derrick and I were looking forward to snuggling each other and going to sleep. Unfortunately that wasn’t Dane’s plan. I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard Dane get out of bed. I was curious what he was up to, so I just watched him in the dim light filtering though the room’s curtains. Teddy bear in hand, he went over to the chair where we’d left his other toys (the Garage and Barn) and proceeded to play with them. He was being fairly quiet so I just let him be for a few minutes.

Trouble was, I was barely able to keep myself awake.

“Dane,” I whispered. He turned to look at me. “Dane, it’s bed time. Time to go to sleep. Can you put your toys down and crawl into bed?”

He hesitated for a moment. I prayed this wasn’t a time he’d choose to be defiant—I was much too tired to deal with that. Luckily, he let out a sigh, picked up one of the horses and his teddy bear and headed for bed. But instead of climbing into his own bed he came and stood by ours.

I lifted the covers. “Okay, little guy, come on in,” I said. So there the three of us were. I was the meat in the sandwich. Dane was snuggled with his back to my chest; my arm was wrapped protectively around him. Derrick was spooned against my back, his arm extending over me with his hand gently resting on Dane’s tummy.

Dane pissed the bed at 4 am. It was a shock, but not the end of the world. We cleaned him up and dressed him in fresh PJ’s. I was wet too, so I washed myself and put on clean boxers. Derrick had been out of the line of fire. We crawled back into the other bed and went back to sleep until 8 am.

Derrick’s phone, which had been on night setting, displayed an incoming text. It was good news. The day before Dane’s parents had both signed off on relinquishing their parental rights. The documents, including the statements from the Nikolovs, were to be registered with the court today, then, hopefully, we’d be granted temporary custody at a hearing in Flin Flon later in the day. Could we be at the court house in Flin Flon by 2 pm?

Derrick immediately called Arlyss and told her to prepare the jet for a noon departure.

We bathed Dane quickly and took quick showers ourselves. After a rushed breakfast we drove to the Mosakahisen Cree Nation Centre to gather background information on Dane’s First Nation heritage. Unfortunately, the centre was closed, but looking through the window we saw a small gift shop with various local works of art and crafts displayed. That gave me the germ of an idea for how we could reinforce Dane’s Cree heritage. I needed to flesh out the idea, but that would come. The main thing was to get legal custody. After that we’d have more time to contemplate strategy. Dane’s heritage wasn’t just Cree, he had a good bit of Russian blood in him. Same as me. My interaction with the Nikolovs had peaked my interest in my own Russian heritage, a topic which was never addressed when I was growing up.

After that, we drove to the Nikolovs’ house for our goodbyes. I was itching to get into my medical bag and check them over, which wouldn’t have been wise because I didn’t have a license to practice medicine in Canada, but upon inquiry I found out they were under the care of a local physician that they liked and trusted. A local nurse looked in on them almost daily, especially to care for Mary, who did have COPD (a leading cause of death), and they had home-care help for bathing, meals and cleaning. Unless they moved to a larger city, and perhaps a nursing home—which they were adamantly opposed to—there was little else to be done for them medically or to make them comfortable. Luckily, in Canada where free medical care is universal, there was nothing that they needed from us in terms of help. The Nikolovs were happy to be in the community that had been their lifetime home. Their house was ramshackle, but it was their ‘home,’ and they were comfortable. The three of them, as they’d said, didn’t have long for this world, and they were content. Any interference from us would only upset them.

After assuring us there was nothing they wanted or needed from us we said our goodbyes. They thanked us profusely again for taking Dane; Mr. Nikolov said it took a huge load off their minds to know that he’d be well taken care of and would be out of ‘harm’s way’ (a reference to their grandson’s drug use). Everyone’s eyes were glistening with bittersweet tears as final hugs were exchanged and we made our way to the car.

We boarded the plane, buckled up—mercifully Dane didn’t object—and took off for Flin Flon. My ‘stories’ had prepared Dane for what was happening and he seemed nonplussed by the plane ride. We looked out the window, and I pointed to things on the ground, but I could tell he had trouble relating to what was ‘way down there.’

The lawyer from Winnipeg—a member of the Manitoba Bar—met us at the plane and briefed us on the way to the courthouse. The hearing was to be in Judge’s chambers, and Dane would remain outside, waiting with Alexander and Winston, our flight attendants, and a social worker in case the judge wanted to see him.

The hearing went pretty quickly—after the judge kept us waiting for almost an hour. He had a case file on us about two inches thick and was annoyed he didn’t have more time to study it. He was cranky and fired questions at us, often harrumphing at our answers. I thought the outcome of the hearing was touch-and-go, but in the end he signed the order giving Derrick and I temporary custody and permission to take Dane out of the country. Once again, the Dea-Con legal team had come through for us.

Personally, I was drained. So much had happened in the previous few days that I felt like I was in a washing machine on spin cycle. I hadn’t even had time to sort out my feelings for Dane. Yes, he was a cute little guy, but he was a handful, and I couldn’t say yet that I loved him like a father should love a son. I felt terribly guilty about my ambivalence because the poor little guy did deserve to be loved wholeheartedly.

And everything had happened so quickly that Cass hadn’t been informed—had no idea—that he had a new little brother. Shit! I hope he took the news well.

Nothing was prepared for him at our home in Hawaii. Which bedroom would he take? Would Cass mind if he took ‘his’ bedroom? How would we keep him safe around the swimming pool? Should we hire a live-in nanny or have someone come in only while we were working?

Dane didn’t help matters by being temperamental about fastening his seatbelt for takeoff.

When the plane lifted off I let out a huge sigh. I was relieved that this first important step of gaining custody was successful. But what about the future? Prepared or not, for better or for worse, Dane was going to be part of our future—forever.

Derrick reached out and took my hand. He always did have a way of ‘reading’ my mood, of understanding that I analyzed everything to death. Looking into my eyes, he said, “Gabe, it’s all going to work out great. I promise. Now, let’s phone Cass and tell him he’s got a little brother.”