Three Lovers on the Grift - 25

Two days after arriving in Portland, the three lovers and two babies were finally getting settled into their new home. Page, with the guys' help, had gone on a spending frenzy to furnish the house. Even at that they still had a couple of empty rooms and only the barest minimum of furniture in some of the others.

Vaughn had made all the arrangements to transfer their monies into an account at one of the local banks. For the first time since he'd met Page, he used their real names, as well as Nigel's. He felt both scared and elated as he signed the papers that would open a checking account for them. He knew, deep down inside, that there was no way to connect them to any of the aliases they'd used over the years, but he still felt a shudder run through him as he slid the papers back across the desk to the branch manager.

She smiled at him, thanking him for choosing the bank, before taking him to one of the tellers. There he handed over the bearer bonds for the monies he'd gotten from closing out the various accounts he'd had under other names. The teller looked surprised, but made no comment as she recorded the amount and then handed him a checkbook as well as the sizable amount of cash he'd requested.

He'd already arranged for driver's licenses and other needed forms of ID for each of them soon after they'd finally decided to settle down permanently in one place, using the man who had always handled that for him. He was expensive but his work was beyond compare so Vaughn had never minded paying the price. The same man had also produced credit cards for them that would pass any known inspection and were linked to a known vendor bank. That bit of legerdemain had drained one of Vaughn's smaller bank accounts but was well worth the price.

* * * *

Now, after the shopping spree, they were finally feeling that sense of satisfaction that comes with a new home that was all their own. The men were collapsed on the sofa in the living room, eyes glued to a game on the decently sized television on the built-in bookcase opposite them.

Nigel turned as he heard Page coming down the stairs and immediately jumped to his feet to take Brian from her. "You're supposed to holler rather than carrying them both down at once," he admonished her.

With a dramatic eye roll, she countered with, "I'm quite capable of handling these two tiny bundles by now."

"But what if you slipped, especially on the stairs? God, Page."

Without turning away from the game, Vaughn growled, "Children, behave and quit arguing."

Nigel snorted in amusement as he rejoined him, putting Brian in Vaughn’s lap so that he could watch the game too, even though he knew the baby really couldn't yet.

"Practicing for when they get older?"

Vaughn smiled down at Brian, one hand on his stomach to keep him securely in place. "I have a feeling the twins will be much better behaved than either you or Page."

"I resemble that remark," Page said, smiling sweetly as she took over Nigel's lap, leaning back against his shoulder, Marcia carefully held in the crook of her arm. "So, who's winning? For that matter, who's playing? And can I change the channel to something worth watching?"

"Hell no," Vaughn growled, making certain the remote was well out of her reach.

And so they spent the third evening in their new house, contentedly bantering, each one happy that, for the first time in his or her life, they really were 'at home'.