The Mistletoe Phenomenon Read online

  Lance followed his helper inside and was pointed straight through the foyer to the living room in the back of the house and the kitchen. Passing what looked like a home gym and the dining room, he made his way there. Despite all the boxes it already looked more like a home than Lance’s tiny studio apartment.

  “Hey, I’m glad you could make it.” Magnus had been hanging framed black and white photographs of—what else—glaciers in the living room and came over to greet him, closing the door to the foyer and the cold air coming in from outside on his way.

  “No problem. I love cooking, so this is no hardship.” Lance put the dishes on the work surface next to the oven to shake Magnus’s hand. “They’ll take a few minutes to re-heat and then we can feed the hungry masses.”

  Magnus took his hand, making it tingle. With a shy smile he pulled Lance with him until they stood next to the door. With his free hand Magnus pointed up to where a small bundle of mistletoe had been attached to the wooden frame.

  “Jakob is upstairs. The movers are busy carrying all my boxes with books up there.” Magnus grinned and stepped closer. He looked slightly uncertain but opened his arms in a clear invitation. “We’ve got a few minutes to ourselves and I’d like to spend them exploring the mistletoe phenomenon in more depth.”

  “Mistletoe phenomenon?” Lance almost giggled; that was too cute. He leaned into Magnus’s chest and lifted his head for a slow exploration of lips and mouths that made them both pant within seconds. Something about the intriguing mix of slightly-awkward-scientist and wildly-attractive-man just did it for Lance, and he sighed when they parted to get some much needed oxygen. Magnus held on to his hands as they looked into each other’s eyes.

  “Hm, it seems to work here as well or better than in the store.” Magnus looked serious, but his lips twitched. “I think I still need more data before I can draw any valid conclusions.”

  “I’ll be happy to help.” Lance’s heart was still beating faster than normal. He’d never been one for experiments before, but this was different.

  “There are several more locations in the house set up for exploration.” Magnus grinned and gently squeezed his hand.

  Jakob chose that moment to noisily come down the stairs and burst through the living room door.

  “Hi Lance.” Jakob looked up at him chewing his lower lip.

  “Hi Jakob.” Lance smiled and opened his arms, almost falling over backwards when the boy barreled into him. Magnus watched their hug with a wistful expression.

  The hungry movers helped them finish off the food before clearing out the van and left after Magnus signed for receipt of his stuff. Jakob was helping Lance load the dishwasher when the doorbell rang.

  “Oh, our first visitors!” Jakob ran out of the kitchen, Lance following more slowly.

  A pudgy man in a dark suit with a tie stood next to a mousy-looking woman with dark blonde hair done up in a bun.

  “Uncle Brian? Aunt Nancy?” Jakob had stopped in his tracks.

  “Hello, Jakob.” Brian squinted at Jakob through large horn rimmed glasses. “I hope you are well?”

  “I’m okay.” Jakob inched towards Magnus in the other corner and took his hand.

  “Why are you here?” Magnus hadn’t moved from his spot or invited them in.

  “Is that any way to greet your sister-in-law’s brother and his wife?” Brian shook his balding head. “We’ve come all the way from Florida and you won’t even ask us inside?”

  “I didn’t invite you. We’ve never gotten along before. You made life very difficult for me during the reading of the will with those accusations.” Magnus fisted his hands, his shoulders tense. “I don’t understand why you’d want to see me after that. We’re very busy, so unless you can give me a reason for being here, I’ll ask you to leave.”

  “You have no manners. Not that a cold-blooded scientist with no social skills like you can be expected to have any.” Nancy’s voice was shrill, red blotches appearing on her pale cheeks. “We only have the child’s best interests at heart. Staying with someone who has dubious parenting credentials and has dragged him out into the middle of nowhere isn’t it.”

  “If this is about me being appointed Jakob’s guardian then I have nothing further to say to you.” Magnus glared at them.

  “Are they going to take me away from you?” Jakob’s eyes were big.

  “No!” The word came out as a bark and made Jakob flinch.

  God, what a mess. Lance looked from one to the other, the palpable tension making him cringe. But he was a total stranger with no right to say anything so he made himself shut up. It was hard.

  “Now, look here.” Brian drew himself up to his full height, which wasn’t very much compared to Magnus’s massive frame. “I’m the boy’s uncle just as much as you are. Just because my deluded sister and her crazy husband chose you as his guardian doesn’t mean we have to accept that arrangement. It’s so obviously wrong to have someone who has no experience with children take care of a young boy that we urgently need a better solution.”

  He was calling Jakob’s parents idiots in front of the little boy? What sort of a man did that? Jakob had gone very pale and was clasping Magnus’s hand so hard that his knuckles had gone white. Magnus didn’t seem to notice.

  “On top of all that, it’s not right to let the child grow up without a mother’s influence.” Nancy’s slim frame was shaking with anger. “What we offer is a normal home in an area with excellent schools and lots of boys and girls his own age from good families. None of which you can give him out here at the back of beyond. What were you thinking, moving the child to a godforsaken place like this? Hasn’t he suffered enough with his misguided parents making him live in a deprived and primitive place like Nairobi, Kenya?”

  A few tears had appeared on Jakob’s cheeks. Enough was enough. Magnus obviously didn’t understand the effect this was having on his nephew. Lance couldn’t let them go on like this anymore.

  “Excuse me.” He swallowed when three adults’ eyes turned on him, none of them too friendly. “Do you think you could take this argument into the living room while I take Jakob upstairs? I don’t think he needs to be exposed to all this uncivilized bickering, do you?”

  Chapter Four

  Magnus was reeling from the most emotional attack of his life. He didn’t know how to defend himself. He had no facts at his disposal. The Tabbarts were right about his lack of social and parenting skills, but he knew that keeping Jakob with him was essential to the boy’s well being. Jakob had repeatedly confirmed that he wanted to stay with Magnus after he’d found out that’s what his parents had wanted for him.

  He was grateful that Lance had intervened. He’d been about to lose his temper and hated the feeling. He’d shoved a sputtering Nancy and her fuming husband into the living room, told them to stay there, and closed the door to gain some breathing space.

  Lance was upstairs trying to calm down Jakob. Magnus had a few minutes to consider his strategy. He saw exactly one option.

  “Jakob will be okay.” Lance came down the stairs with a frown on his handsome face. “But you and I need to talk.”

  “Please.” Magnus swallowed. He was turning into an emotional wreck. What had happened to his well-ordered organized life? “I think I need your help.”

  “That’s a step in the right direction.” Lance’s frown vanished. “What do you need?”

  “I- I just have no idea what to say. All the facts are on their side. I have no social skills because I’ve never learned any. My parents pushed my academic development rather than letting me spend time with my peers and I never questioned that— until now. I have no experience with children other than that of an uncle. I cannot and will not provide a mother for Jakob.” Magnus ground his teeth.

  “So why should Jakob stay with you?” There was a small smile on Lance’s lips.

  “What?” Magnus thought that’s what he’d just asked Lance.

  “If all the facts are on their side, why should Jakob stay
with you?” Lance sat down on the second lowest stair, resting his arms on his thighs.

  “You think he shouldn’t?” Magnus’s stomach roiled.

  “That’s not what I said.” Lance shook his head, his big brown eyes watching him.

  “But– but….” Magnus sat down on a chair next to the table with the phone on it, totally confused.

  “Magnus, something inside you is telling you loud and clear that Jakob should stay with you.” Lance took a deep breath. “If it’s not facts, what do you think it is?”

  “It’s just a feeling.” A very strong one, though.

  “There’s no ‘just’ about it.” Lance finally smiled, clearly satisfied with Magnus’s answer. “Your heart is telling you what you need to do. You’re just not listening to it.”

  “Okay, yes. My heart is telling me that Jakob needs to stay here, not go with them. They’re cold and nasty—did you notice they didn’t even use Jakob’s name, just kept referring to him as ‘the boy’ or ‘the child’?” Magnus had always been a good observer.

  “You noticed that, huh?” Lance looked proud. “So, what are you going to do?”

  “Are you suggesting I tell them to go away based on my feeling of what’s right?” Magnus thought the floor had been pulled out from under his feet.

  “Now you’ve got it.” Lance nodded.

  “But I can’t argue based on a feeling!” Magnus was sure about that.

  “Oh, but you can.” Lance rose and pointed at the door to the living room. “Those people in there are totally emotional about taking Jakob with them. I don’t know why it’s so important to them; it doesn’t look to me like they have any feelings for him at all. But for some reason they’re desperate to get their hands on Jakob. They’re just using so-called facts to argue their case because it fits their purpose for now.”

  “So you want me to use my emotions to counter theirs? Because that’s what’s behind their demands?” That was just brilliant. Why hadn’t he seen it?

  “That’s part of it, yes. Emotions can be just as good a reason to do something as so-called ‘objective facts’. So you should use them as arguments when Jakob’s well-being is at stake.” Lance ran his hands over his face. “More importantly, though, Jakob likes you and wants to stay with you. His parents knew that and made you his guardian. You obviously love him as well, even though you don’t show it to him enough. Those are excellent reasons why you should stop them from taking Jakob.”

  Magnus was flabbergasted. Using feelings as arguments? What a novel idea. Well, to him at least. Lance seemed to think it was perfectly normal. And what was that about him not showing Jakob that he loved him? That sounded like something he needed to follow up on. It might explain why he hadn’t really been able to connect with Jakob. He still wasn’t sure how to do it, but at least he now had someone he could ask. Someone he trusted to give him the right answer, even though he’d only known him for a few days.

  * * *

  Lance had no idea how he’d gotten roped into going Christmas tree shopping with Magnus and Jakob. Not that he minded, but the speed with which Jakob had “adopted” him as part of his little family was dizzying.

  Then again, maybe he shouldn’t be surprised. When Magnus had told Jakob that he’d kicked Brian and Nancy out of their new home, Jakob had run up to his uncle and hugged him around the middle. Magnus’s shocked face had shown this wasn’t normal behavior. It had confirmed Lance’s fear that Magnus wasn’t communicating his love to the little boy.

  “Are we there yet?” Jakob’s voice piped up from the back of the car, pulling Lance back into the present.

  “Not yet.” Magnus rolled his eyes, maintaining a firm grip on the steering wheel.

  “It’s only about another five minutes.” Lance sat in the comfortably heated front seat. Magnus was driving them to some obscure little tree farm close to nothing in particular. He’d said a future colleague at the Park had recommended it as the best place to get blue spruce in the area. “If we can find the right turnoff from Route 191, that is.”

  “If I can navigate around the Arctic, I’m sure the wilds of Wyoming will be more than manageable.” Magnus mock-glared at him and slowed down the car. “Here we are, Big Trail Drive, just like Peter said.”

  “Yippee.” Jakob started bouncing in his seat when he saw the small cabin with the big sign that announced “Best Douglas Fir in Wyoming.”

  They piled out of the car, putting on their coats as they went. Magnus insisted he was fine in a thick woolen jumper. Lance had lived in L.A. for too long and was still trying to adjust back to a high of around thirty degrees on most winter days.

  An old man in thick padded boots, a brown fleece-lined jacket, and a red woolen cap on his white hair greeted them with a friendly smile. Magnus paid the fee, picked up one of the bow-saws, and they set out into the forest, following the man’s directions.

  Many trees later Jakob had made a selection and they stepped back while Magnus started cutting the beautiful Douglas fir. His thigh muscles bunched as he moved the saw back and forth with a strength that almost made Lance drool. Too bad the man’s biceps weren’t visible under his thick clothing.

  “Okay, one Christmas tree for our new home.” Magnus picked up the felled five foot tree as if it weighed nothing. “Maybe we’re a day late for Saint Lucia, the official start of Christmas in Sweden, but the house just wasn’t available until today.”

  “And in Sweden you’re not supposed to have the tree up before Christmas Eve anyway, right?” When Magnus nodded Jakob looked thoughtful. “Mom and Dad always said we should make our own traditions.”

  “Yes, they did.” Magnus turned and looked at his nephew, his gaze soft and warm. “And you’ll need to help me make ours because I only know the few my parents taught me. And that was a long time ago.”

  “Can Lance help too?” Jakob looked at Lance, hope in his sky-blue eyes.

  “If you want me to.” Lance’s heart lurched with hope. Magnus had trusted him enough to ask for help. He’d always longed for a partner to take care of and to love. He’d never dared hope this would include a child. Most of his previous lovers hadn’t even been willing to stay in a monogamous relationship.

  “Yeah, I want you to help. I think you’d be really good at it.” Jakob took his hand and squeezed it through their gloves. “And we need all the help we can get, right Uncle Magnus?”

  “Yes, Jakob. I think you’re right.” Magnus looked at Lance with a silver-blue intensity that made Lance’s knees weak. “We need all the help Lance is willing to give us.”

  Chapter Five

  Magnus verified that his mistletoe decoration over the front entrance was big enough to be visible. There was one on the outside too; one could never be too thorough when setting up an experiment. He checked his watch. Lance had said he’d be here for lunch, only Magnus had forgotten to ask exactly when he thought that was.

  It was just before one p.m. and surely time for the mid-day meal. He’d already sent Jakob back to making Christmas decorations twice. His nephew was just as impatient for Lance to arrive as he was.

  Magnus went back to setting up the workout equipment in the new home gym. Meant to be a study, the room was too small to contain all his books so he’d decided to make the big room upstairs his study and Jakob’s playroom. That way they could spend more time together, maybe become closer.

  The doorbell made him jump when it finally rang. A squealing Jakob streaked past him and opened the front door almost before he’d made it out of the gym.

  “Lance! You’re finally here.” Jakob threw his little arms around a grinning Lance who’d hunkered down so the boy could reach. “I’m sooo hungry. What did you bring? Can you stay after lunch? I want to go ice skating but Uncle Magnus said we’d have to ask you if you know how and if you want to go and….”

  “Whoa, Jakob.” Lance laughed and hugged the boy tightly. “You’re supposed to let me answer one question before asking the next.”

  Lance pulled back
a little and smiled up at Magnus, making his stomach flutter and his groin tighten. Crap. The joy on that face was doing things to him he hadn’t thought possible from a mere look.

  “Come on in, Lance.” Magnus cleared his throat. “Leave your boots outside on the porch; I’ll take your coat and then I’ll greet you properly.”

  Lance’s eyes went upwards and his eyes lit up. Good, he wasn’t the only one who wanted to “experiment.” When Lance had taken off the snowy boots, he closed the door and handed over his coat. Magnus put it away, his musky scent not helping to reduce the problem with Lance’s pants being too tight.

  “Here, Jakob, can you take the food to the kitchen for me, please?” Lance handed the boy an insulated transport bag. “I’ll be along in a bit to help you unpack.”

  “I can do it, Lance.” Jakob grinned. “You say a good hello to Uncle Magnus first.”

  Magnus’s cheeks were suspiciously warm as Jakob skipped along in the direction of the kitchen, even closing the door behind him. He turned back to Lance who was admiring the mistletoe decorations; a good-sized bunch hung over every doorframe leading from the foyer into the rest of the house.

  “Looks like you’re planning on doing a lot of experimenting.” Lance stepped closer but didn’t touch.

  “Not without you, though.” Magnus’s voice was an octave lower than normal. “This is strictly a one-man experiment.”

  “Good.” Lance lifted a hand and cupped his check, eyes suddenly serious. “I’m not into multiple variables.”

  “Neither am I.” The thought of another man touching Lance made him feel sick. How had this happened so quickly?

  He opened his arms and pulled Lance closer until they touched from chest to thigh. It was a good thing their clothes were in the way. If not for their minimal protection, he might have embarrassed himself right then and there. The other man’s hardness pressed against his own, making him groan when he bent down to press his lips against Lance’s. With a small sigh, Lance slid his arms up around his neck and closed his eyes.