For the most part, Adrien understood. He didn’t want to spend a lot of time talking about his lost father, the years of loneliness on the farm, or retraining his brain from the religious doctrine he’d been spoon-fed since infancy, either. But there was so much more to Heath’s life, being older.

Adrien had more years ahead of him than behind, and hopefully Heath did, too, but surely there was some interesting history there?

Simon had turned to go back inside, but Adrien stopped him. “Stay,

Simon. Sit in here with me. There’s a nice breeze through the forest today, and the shade beneath the gazebo roof is almost chilly.”

“Are you cold? I’ll fetch you the silk robe—”

“No,” Adrien called out, patting the bench.

He did enjoy the silk robe Heath had brought for him, though he’d long ago stopped feeling shy about his nudity in front of Simon. Not after Simon had walked in on all manner of activities with Heath during the last few months, and not after his skin on his stomach had started really stretching with the baby and the rest of him came alight like exposed nerve endings.

Still, he did sometimes slide the soft robe on when he was chilled, but today he enjoyed the breeze across his skin, raising his nipples and ruffling his hair.

It made him feel alive.

“Just sit with me.”

Simon crossed over to him, bypassing some of Adrien’s favorite roses, red blowsy ones with a scent that made him moan, and took up a place in the shade across from Adrien. He fanned himself with his small fan and leaned back with his ankles crossed.

“Do you want to stay for dinner with me?” Adrien asked. He didn’t like to think of himself as needy. In the past he’d always been content alone, but now he was accustomed to spending his days reading or contemplating the clouds in the sky while feeling his baby move and the evenings lost in Heath’s company. An evening alone, too, seemed like too much.

“That is a kind offer,” Simon said, rubbing his jowl and smiling kindly.

“You’re a sweet man. I’m afraid I have other obligations in the evenings, however.”

He’d never wondered much before about Simon’s afterhours, where he went, or what he did, but suddenly he was curious about them. Did he eat alone at night or with the other servants of the big castle, always invisible since the first day? Or did he even live in the big place? Maybe he had a house on the estate somewhere or in the city. Perhaps a lover or a spouse. No children, though. As a beta, he couldn’t have any.

“Do you have someone waiting for you?”

“You could say that,” Simon said elusively. “Heath won’t be very late.

You could watch a movie, maybe. I noticed that you’ve barely touched the entertainment console in your room.”

Adrien shrugged. He liked to live in his dreamy, quiet contentedness

during the day, and at night Heath took far too much attention, what with his hard cock and strong arms and rapid-fire fucking. He felt his face flush at the memory and crossed his legs to hide his cock’s reaction. “I might. Or I could read some more.” He returned to his original reason to call Simon over.

“Or…I was wondering…does Heath have any old photo albums? From his youth or teen years, that is? Not recent digital pictures. Older than that.” He smiled. “I’ve been curious lately what the baby might look like.” It seemed a good enough excuse to want to see and didn’t sound as pathetic as admitting that Heath barely told him anything about his history.

“He does, yes,” Simon said. “Would you like me to get them for you?”

“Do you think Heath would mind?” That was a risky question, he knew, the one that might get this opportunity to explore even a little of Heath’s past revoked, but he wouldn’t have felt right not asking it.

“He might,” Simon said with a thoughtful expression. “But he hasn’t forbidden it. In fact, I’ve been instructed to give you anything you ask for.”

“Oh.” He sat in silence, Simon’s eyes on him intensely. Finally, he said,

“Will he be angry if I look at them?”

“Have you ever seen Heath angry?”

Adrien thought back to when he’d first met Heath, being ordered to show his hole, kneeling in the dirt to suck his cock, and then being fucked in the entry of the heat cabin as he felt the first real swells of the heat. He’d been hard, rough, perfunctory, but never angry. Never cruel or outright mean.

“No,” he said softly.

“It’s a rare event, but it does happen. I can’t tell you how he’d feel about you looking at the photos or what his reaction will be, but I can say that if you ask for them, I’ll bring them to you before I leave for the night.” Simon fanned himself more vigorously. Adrien tried to determine if it was due to nerves or heat.

“I’d like to look at the photos, please.” What harm could it do? He couldn’t imagine there would be anything in a family photo album that would be embarrassing or shameful. And if there was, then Adrien would just have to find the box of his things from his dorm where he’d shoved the photo albums he’d salvaged from his father’s house after his death. There were a good number of silly photos of him as a kid in there. Tit for tat.

“I’ll have the albums to you by nightfall. I’ll send Jonas with them.”

“Jonas?” Adrien said, uncrossing his legs and enjoying the wind fluttering

through his hair.

“He’s a young servant here. An alpha, actually. Heath is going to train him up to work in the business, but for now he keeps the files in Heath’s office.”

“Oh, Heath has an office…” Adrien trailed off. “I assumed his office was in the city.”

“He works from home most of the time.”

All day long while Adrien lolled about in the nest and the garden, Heath was on the same property? Somehow, he felt snubbed that he didn’t know this information before now. “Oh. What does he do in his office here?”

“He takes appointments, there’s always someone wanting to meet with him, and phone calls. Everyone wants to talk with him about investing in their schemes.”

“Does he? Invest in people’s ‘schemes’?”

“Sometimes. And sometimes not.” Simon heaved himself up. “Now, I’ll tell Jonas to put the books in your bedroom. If you stay out here for another half hour or so, Adrien, you won’t have to worry about putting on the robe.

He’ll be down and gone again.”

Adrien cradled his stomach, holding his hand over a spot where the baby was kicking in little flutters. He saw Simon hesitate, watching curiously.

“He’s kicking,” he explained.

Simon tilted his head. “Does it hurt?”

“No.” Adrien looked up at Simon and saw the bare curiosity on his face.

“Have you ever felt a baby move?”

Simon shook his head.

“Come here,” Adrien said, reaching out for Simon’s hand. It was soft but starting to get arthritis in some of the joints. He placed the old man’s hand on his stomach and hoped the baby wouldn’t get shy now.

“Oh!” Simon said, jerking his hand back when the baby gave a good kick.

“That’s strong!”

“Yeah,” Adrien said, grinning helplessly. He stroked his stomach again.

“He’s busy today.”

“Enjoying the fresh air, as he should,” Simon said, straightening up and lifting his wobbly chin. “Good evening, lovey. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Adrien lingered in the garden until the sun started to set, and he did grow chilly. He went inside and ate the dinner Simon had prepared for him: cold

salad and a delicious cheese-and-meat plate. He made himself walk around the living area, pretending that he might read a book or sit down on the sofa, but eventually he eagerly raced back to his bedroom.

The window screens were drawn, probably Simon’s doing. He knew that it unnerved Adrien to walk into the room at night and made him feel exposed to the forest. On the center of his bed were four thick photo albums, and he heaved them up into his arms, resting them on his stomach as he walked back into the cozy living room to take his time looking at them.