Chapter 14

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Bobby walked down the lane to meet Rachel as she drove up to the cottage.

"Hi, sis," he said giving Rachel a kiss as she got out of the car.

"You look very spiffy," Rachel said noting the nicely tailored slacks and obviously new teal T-shirt. "Aren't you a little overdressed for tramping around the countryside?"

"I wasn't planning on doing any tramping," Bobby laughed. "John's crew has cleared the area for your house, and they made a track up there at the same time. We could actually drive over there."

"Then say no more," Rachel said getting back behind the wheel as Bobby slid into the passenger seat.

"Just take it easy. There are some ruts, but I don't think it should be too much of a problem."

Rachel turned back onto the lane and drove a little way along until she saw the obvious entrance to where her house would soon stand. "I'm so excited about this. I love my house, and it's great that Brian would cede this property to us."

"Yeah, Brian's great," Bobby replied flatly.

Rachel glanced at her brother as they bounced along the rutted track. "Is something wrong, Bobby?"

"No, no, everything's fine."

"When you say that, I know something is definitely wrong," Rachel declared.

"Why do you say that?"

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You're my brother. I've known you for a lot of years. When you say that, it does not bode well." She pulled the car to a halt where the large cleared area lay in front of them.

"So this is the spot," Bobby said trying to change the topic for the moment. "I hope it meets with your approval."

Rachel got out of the car and looked around, picturing her house nestled up against the trees that would be behind their home. "It'll face this way, right? I don't want it too close to the trees but I'm glad we will be near them."

"John will come up here with you and George before they actually dig the foundation. You can make your final input into everything at that point."

"Oh Bobby, it's going to be great! The girls will love it out here."

Bobby laughed wryly. "You don't actually think two teenage girls are going to enjoy living out in the middle of nowhere? They can't possibly be happy about being away from town and their friends and their school…"

"Okay, wise guy! I've promised them more use of my car so they are going to give it a try," Rachel conceded. "And I'm so happy to be close to you and John and Patrick." She saw Bobby visibly wince at that statement. "Bobby, tell me what's going on."

Bobby turned to look back at the cottage he shared with John and their son. In a voice that could barely be heard, he said, "I'm worried."

"Worried? About what?"

"You're Patrick's mother. I can never forget that. Someday he's going to ask about that, but before that happens, I'm really worried about you being so close to him."

"That's silly," Rachel replied, but the frown on her face didn't really look like she found Bobby's statement very funny.

"You don't really expect me to believe that you haven't thought about this?"

"No … I have thought about it, but it won't make any difference. I'm sure…"

"How can you be sure of anything?" Bobby demanded. "A mother's love…"

"Bobby, stop! Before you make yourself sick. I know that I'm Patrick's biological mother, but…"

"And I'm nothing. I guess technically I'm Patrick's uncle." Bobby shook his head.

"No, no you're not! You're Patrick's father. And don't you ever forget that!"

"But how can you stand to be here when he'll be right next door? It has to affect you," Bobby said in a resigned voice.

"Don't you think if I had motherly feelings towards Patrick I would have acted on them before now? Bobby, I made the decision to give that child to you and John before he was ever conceived. You are the parents. He loves you … his fathers. Don't ever doubt that. And he loves me too. I'm his Aunt Rachel and that's the way it's always going to be … even after you tell him the truth in about ten or twenty years from now."

"Are you sure?" Bobby asked tears in his eyes.

"One hundred percent. I love you all, but he's your son."

"Thank you," Bobby said pulling his sister into a warm hug. "I … I've been worrying about this ever since Brian offered the property. I should have talked to you sooner."

"Damn right you should have!"

"I love you," Bobby gushed kissing her cheek.

"And I love you right back. Now let's figure out the best way to orient the house." She took his hand and they walked along the perimeter of the cleared area. The day was suddenly a lot sunnier in Bobby's eyes.

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Since John wanted to supervise the moving and resettling of his in-law's house personally, he had been doing a lot of his work from home. The attic office was outfitted with his and Bobby's computers, fax machines, matching desks with wall to wall book shelves and a drafting table. A very special drafting table; a present from Claire when John had graduated from college. She had found the table at the church jumble sale. It was sturdy, no frills and he loved it.

John was sitting at his drafting table with Patrick on his lap. John had a drafting pencil in his hand and was drawing up the plans for the new foundation, a new patio and driveway. As John was drawing, Patrick had gently laid his small hand over his dad's. To Patrick, it felt like he was helping to draw up the plans. John loved sharing this time with his son.

Down in the sun porch, Justin was putting the finishing touches on another "Old Master." Briana was at her own easel with a big fat brush in her hand creating a garden of colorful flowers for her daddies. A couple of swishes with his brush and Justin was done. He reached up high above his head for a couple of hooks. He and John had devised a pulley system so that wet and drying canvases could be hoisted up to the rafters of the sun porch and away from curious little hands. This was the last opportunity Justin had to work on his paintings until after their big barbecue. Bree made the same swishing motions with her own brush. Father and daughter shared the same satisfied looks on their faces and then Justin fastened Bree's painting to a special hook and hoisted up her painting. They were about to clean off their brushes when Bree heard the low rumble of the engine of her Dada's Corvette as Brian turned onto the private lane.

"Dada!" Briana squealed as she put her brush in the small slop sink in the corner then raced out of the porch door toward the front of the cottage. Her little bare feet made tiny crunching noises on the pebbled path. "Dada!"

Rachel and Bobby were coming up the path as Bree ran past, her little legs pumping as hard as she could to get to her dada.

"What's happening?" Rachel asked, looking bewildered as Justin jogged behind Bree to make sure the child stopped at the edge of the fence as instructed and did not go into the lane itself.

"Bree's dada-dar!" Justin shouted over his shoulder.

"Her what?" Rachel asked her brother as they walked into the porch.

"Her dada-dar. Briana has this thing; she can practically sense when Brian has turned onto the lane. She's out the door and on the path before he's parking the car. And it doesn't matter if it's the Jeep, the 'vette or the Cherokee. Bree just knows when her dada is home. Dada-dar. Like radar or gaydar, specifically set for her dada."

"You people are weird. You know that, don't you?" Rachel said with a laugh.

"Yeah, we know." Bobby laughed right along with her.

"Hey, what's the hubbub?" John called out over the balcony railing. He knew but he had to ask anyway.

"Brian's home!" Bobby answered.

"Oh, dada-dar," Patrick contributed.

"Yup," Bobby affirmed and the whole family cracked up. Gus came into the porch. He had finished 'sprucing' up his room and was about to put away his laundry when he heard the commotion.

"What's going on?" Gus asked of everyone in the porch.

"Dada-dar!" Everyone said in unison and then they all broke out into giggles.

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"Squirt!" Brian shouted as he watched his little blond darling barreling around the path. He barely had time to lay his briefcase on the ground before Bree was in his arms and kissing his face.

"Missed you, Dada!" Bree said in between kisses.

"Missed you too, Squirt," Brian cooed back as he kissed his daughter's cheeks and nose. Justin jogged up to add his hugs and kisses into the mix. "Missed you too, Sunshine," Brian whispered into Justin's ear. Justin looked up into Brian's love filled eyes then kissed him deeply. Justin picked up Brian's briefcase then they walked to the cottage.

"What time will Simon and Ken arrive?" Justin asked as he, Brian and Briana sat in the kitchen. It was just after one so Justin had lunch ready.

"They should be here around three. They called from the road, there's traffic but it's moving. We should have a snack ready for them, just in case they're hungry."

"We have plenty; don't worry about it. How was work?"

"Aside from Ted and Cynthia trying to send me to an early grave, it was fine. I cleared up a few things."

"Ted and Cynthia?"

"Yeah, I guess we all had the same idea and Cynthia is taking off next week. She wanted to make sure her calendar was clear."

"Makes sense."

"And what did my two favorite blonds do while I was gone?"

"We painted, Dada!"

"And will I get to see your wonderful creations?"

"Yup, they're up in the sky."

"Oooohh! Up in the sky."

"Way up!"

"We'll look at them after lunch. Okay, Squirt?"

"Okay, Dada." The happy family ate their lunch and discussed the plans for the party.

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Brian finished brushing Bree's hair. He ran his hands through the soft, blond locks marveling at its texture. It was his guilty pleasure … playing with Bree's hair. But Bree loved it as much as he did. With a sigh of satisfaction, he divided it into two equal parts down the center of her head. He carefully scooped up the hair on one side of her head and put on the tiny elastic band followed by a pink ribbon to match her new pink dress. Then he proceeded to do the same with the other side.

"Perfect," he said as he surveyed his handiwork.

"Perfect," Bree mimicked. She smiled at her Dada and made a little curtsey.

"You are such a coquette," Brian laughed.

"Coquette?" she repeated with a frown.

"A flirt."

"Flirt?"

"You are beautiful," he said with a chuckle.

"I know," she said smugly. They told her that all the time.

Brian lifted her down off the bench where she stood when he worked on her hair. "Let's see if everything is as it should be." He took her hand and walked her over to the door to her room. He pushed it closed so they could look at themselves in the full length mirror on the back of the door.

Brian sucked in his gut, what there was of it. "Not bad," he said aloud.

Bree turned sideways and sucked in her tummy, carefully imitating what her father did. "Not bad," she pronounced. Brian laughed. "We are beautiful," she said emphatically.

"We certainly are. Let's go see if your daddy is as beautiful as ever, and then it will be time for our guests to arrive."

He took Bree's hand and they walked out to the kitchen where Justin was laying out all the snacks that their guests could possibly want.

"Daddy," Bree said posing in the doorway with her other father.

"My, my, my," Justin beamed. "You're going to dazzle our guests."

"You're not so bad yourself, Sunshine," Brian said his eyes full of love.

"That makes three of us," Justin replied and came over to kiss his favorite people.

A few minutes later a car pulled into the lane. It gave a small toot of the horn as it approached the house. Brian picked up Bree and opened the front door. He and Justin walked out to greet their guests.

"You made pretty good time," Justin said as Simon climbed out of the car.

Gus came running out of the house. "Hey, Jeff, Ray, I'm glad you're here."

"Us too," both boys said with a laugh.

"Dada?" Bree patted Brian's shoulder to get his attention.

"Oh, pardon my manners," Brian said with a smile. "This is our daughter, Miss Briana Victoria Kinney-Taylor. Say hi, Bree."

"Hi," Bree said with her most coquettish smile.

"She's adorable," Ken gushed taking hold of Bree's hand. Bree studied him with those sky blue eyes.

"And those guys giggling over there are Jeffrey and Raymond, our sons," Simon said. "Come on, boys, introduce yourselves to Justin."

The two boys came forward and said their names as they shook hands with Justin. "Thanks for having us," Ray said as he backed away.

"Gus, maybe you and Ray and Jeff could grab the bags and bring them inside," Brian suggested.

"Sure, Pop."

Simon hit the button to open the trunk and the whole group moved inside. The boys left the luggage by the front door as everyone headed for the kitchen and all the food that Justin had laid out.

"Man, that looks good. They didn't feed us on the plane," Ray stated.

"Yeah, I don't think they do meals anymore," Gus observed as he dug into the nachos that Justin had just nuked.

"Airlines suck," Jeff contributed, his mouth full.

Brian watched the world weary jet set teenagers and had to chuckle. "At least they got you here … and in one piece."

Simon and Ken took a more leisurely approach to the food.

"Save some space for dinner. We thought we'd barbecue. My brother and his partner are going to join us," Brian explained.

"And Patrick," Bree contributed.

"And Patrick."

"Don't worry about these two," Simon said gesturing towards the boys. "At that age they all have hollow legs. When dinner's ready, they'll be the first ones at the table."

"Daaaad," Ray and Jeff both whined.

"Your father's right," Ken said, "but enjoy the food. This is delicious. Do we have you to thank, Justin?"

"Mostly," Justin said eating some of the nachos. "Wait till you see what we have for the barbecue tomorrow. Emmett is outdoing himself as we speak."

"I can't wait to meet this Emmett," Ken laughed. "He sounds like a man after my own heart."

"In more ways than one," Brian smirked.

The boys had cleaned off all of the nachos and several of the other plates and bowls too.

"Gus, why don't you get some sodas for Jeff and Ray, and then you can show them up to your room."

"Sure, Dad. Want me to put Ken and Simon's luggage in your bedroom?"

"That would be a plan."

Gus and the two boys hurried off to look after the bags.

"We're not putting you out of your bed, are we?" Simon asked with a look of horror on his face. "We could have got a hotel. We didn't intend to impose."

"Nonsense," Justin said. "You will take the master bedroom. We're sleeping in the sun porch."

"Sun porch?" Simon asked. He didn't like this at all. If he had known Brian and Justin didn't really have room for them, he would have made other arrangements.

"Come and see," Justin said with a smile. Everyone trooped out into the sun porch.

"What a great space!" Ken reacted.

"We love it," Justin explained. "I paint over there and Bree has her toys and this is where we sleep when the spirit moves us." Justin folded back a panel of the screen so that the men could see.

"And you can look at the stars at night. How romantic!" Ken added.

"And storms are fun out here too," Brian smirked.

"That looks like a totally separate house over there through the screened in area," Simon observed.

"It is," Brian agreed. "That's where my brother lives. He's an architect, and when we joined the houses this was all his idea."

"You can't even see the other house from the road. It's unbelievable."

"So you see we're not too cramped for space. The boys can share Gus' room."

"Gar-gar, Dada," Bree said pulling on Brian's hand.

"Bree loves gardening," Brian said.

"And all our gardens are due to Brian's green thumb," Justin added proudly. Brian stuck his tongue in his cheek and tried not to look pleased as punch, even though he was.

Bree grabbed Ken's hand and pulled him towards the door. She had decided he was okay and wanted him to see her play house. They all followed. Ken and Simon were duly impressed with the grounds and they loved Bree's play house. She didn't even say "mine" once.

They all returned wondering where the boys had got too.

Brian smiled. "One of my accounts has some new video games they want to promote. I brought them home for Gus and your boys to try out."

"They'll be in seventh heaven," Simon laughed. "But we may never get them to come out of Gus' room."

"I know where the power switch is," Brian smirked.

"Everyone laughed and sat down on the sun porch. Justin brought a pitcher of iced tea and they all relaxed until John, Bobby and Patrick arrived home from Claire's. Introductions were made. The boys even tore themselves away from the video games long enough to meet Brian's brother and his partner. Everyone seemed to hit it off.

They all worked on dinner which included two huge pieces of salmon that they barbecued. There wasn't any left when they were done either. They talked and got to know one another. It was a nice way to introduce Ken and Simon into the family. Justin was sure the following day would be a little overwhelming with everyone there.

When Brian and Justin snuggled down in the big brass bed, they let out satisfied sighs.

"That went really well," Justin said.

"Yeah, but do you realize this is the first time we've ever had friends stay over like this?" Brian asked reflectively.

"That's true. It's usually just the family."

"The Munchers," Brian said with a shudder.

"Stop it, you big Smoosh," Justin laughed looking for the ticklish spot near Brian's groin.

"Getting playful, Sunshine?"

"They won't be able to hear us," Justin whispered against Brian's ear.

"Of course not."

He decided to take full advantage of Justin's playfulness.

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