KIDZ

Epilogue

“Poppa,” Patrick called out as he rounded the stairs up into the attic office where his red-headed father was busily typing on his keyboard.

“Hi.” Bobby lifted his head and smiled at his son. “I think you’ve grown another inch,” Bobby proudly observed.

“Maybe, umm, Poppa, can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Bobby replied as he saved his work then turned all of his attention to his son.

“Does it bother you that I decided to work with Dad this summer?” Patrick said with worry.

“No, it doesn’t. As a matter of fact, I’m very proud of you. Your Dad has told me that you’re enjoying yourself and learning a lot.”

“Yeah, I think I am. I’m not ready to build a house all by myself but I think I really want to be a builder when I grow up.”

“Then I think you should pursue it,” Bobby told his son. “It’s not like this is the first time you’ve shown interest in what your father does. You’ve spent a lot of time sitting on his lap while he was at his drafting table.” Bobby pointed toward the table on the other side of the office.

“You don’t want me to be a lawyer like you or a doctor like Grandpa?”

“Patrick, not everyone is cut out to be a doctor. I know I wasn’t when I was a kid. And it took a long time for my Dad to realize that, plus the fact that I’m gay and knew it when I was about your age...well, let’s just say dinner time around my house was very quiet and a little more than strained.”

“But Grandpa is cool!”

“Yes he is, now. We came to an understanding. And even when he didn’t approve of my lifestyle, I always knew he loved me. You know I love you, right?” Bobby asked his son with a smile. He stood the moment he saw Patrick come towards him.

“I love you, Poppa,” Patrick declared as Bobby enveloped his son in a hug.

“Patrick, I am so proud of you. And no, it doesn’t bother me that you want to be a builder. Do you know how unique you are? Most kids your age are more concerned with the latest computer game or blogging. You, my man, know what you want to be when you grow up. And you have the best teacher to show you how to do it!”

“I’ve got my own Doctor Dad!”

“Yes, you have. Now, let me ask you something, what brought this on? Did someone say something to you?”

“Not really, but I’ve been getting weird vibes from Aunt Claire.”

“Did she say something to you?”

“No, but when we were at John’s house, she kept looking at me weird.”

“Weird?”

“Yeah, like I had three heads or something. You know, weird.”

“What did your Dad say?”

“I didn’t tell him.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’ll get all Super-Dad on me and Aunt Claire is his sister, sort of.” Bobby snorted when Patrick said ‘sister.’

“Super-Dad?” Bobby asked with a smirk.

“Yeah, like when Uncle Bri gets all Ragie,” Patrick giggled.

“Ragie?” Bobby started to laugh; he understood. The brothers had a lot more in common than anyone realized. And they were very quick to defend the family if necessary.

“Yeah, you know.”

“Yes, I know. All right, let me nose around, but your Aunt Claire has some interesting issues. I would just ignore her. She wouldn’t hurt you,” Bobby added.

“I know that; it’s like she can’t believe I’m me.”

“That’s because you’re an incredible kid!” Bobby beamed a sunny smile at his son then pulled him back into a fierce hug. “I can’t explain it but just know how much I love you and I thank the gods every day for you.” Bobby ruffled the fiery red hair then gave his son a nuggie.

“Poppa!” Patrick screeched with laughter. “Quit it, Poppa!” The laughing and giggling grew louder.

“What’s going on up there?” came an amused roar from the sun porch.

“Nothing!” the red heads replied simultaneously accompanied by more laughing.

“See,” Patrick whispered, “Super-Dad.”

“I guess we should go see if Super-Dad could use a little help with the cooking. It’s our turn to make dinner.”

“Okay, Poppa!” Patrick agreed. The red heads went down to help Super-Dad with supper.

 

*****
 

It was quiet; the only sounds were the completion of a round of gentle lovemaking and then two men trying to get their breathing under control.

“That was great!”

“Amazing!”

“I still can’t believe that I’ve been here for most of the summer. This place is so cool.”

“I can’t believe you stayed all this time and that you conned your way into getting a summer job.”

“It didn’t take much conning, I know enough of the real estate business to know what I’m doing. I grew up working with my Dad. I just offered my services to Jennifer. Besides, what kind of man would I be if I let you pay for everything?”

“A kept man,” Gus giggled. Ray snorted as he poked Gus in the ribs. “How much longer can you stay?”

“Another couple of weeks, I have law school this Fall. How much longer are you staying at Kinnetik?”

“Same, I have to go back early to speak with my advisors and pre-register. I’m almost done at PIFA.”

“Really? That was quick.”

“Not really, I didn’t have time to take all the classes I needed so that’s why I did a lot of projects.”

“I noticed. Why’d you do it? You didn’t really need both degrees.”

“I know, but I wanted to do it. I’m not an artist like Justin but I love the technical aspects of art and how art affects us on a daily basis. And when I was accepted to PIFA, how could I turn that down? Besides, I like the fact that I can talk the talk with both the ad execs and the art department.”

“I bet your father just growls at them,” Ray said. The boys giggled.

“Yeah, Cynthia told me some wild stories when my Pop worked for Ryder and Vangard.”

“Your Dad may consider himself an adman but he is more. You have to know something about art to be that good.”

“I know that too. You know, before I started interning at Kinnetik, I never realized just how smart my Dad is. I mean I know he’s smart, but he’s really smart. Does that make any sense?”

“Makes lots of sense. Growing up I never realized just how hard my dads work and they’re real good at what they do,” Ray agreed.

“Oh man, I just realized something!” Gus bopped himself in the head then sat up.

“What? What?” Ray sat straight up as well.

“We’re becoming our dads!” Gus stared all wide-eyed then turned to face Ray, the wide-eyed look transformed to become smug and seductive.

“Whaaat?” Ray drawled. Gus pounced.

“We’re becoming our dads!” Gus said looking down at Ray, waggling his eyebrows.

“Oh yeah!” Ray agreed as he flipped them both over. The battle was on as was the next round.

 

*****
 

It was the end of July, Brian and Justin were finalizing their plans for their trip. They spent most of their days in Pittsburgh synchronizing schedules.

“What’s wrong?” Lindsay asked Justin. Justin was supervising the packing of some of his more intricate pieces. He seemed to be fretting over them more than usual.

“I don’t like the idea of shipping them,” Justin admitted. “I want them with me when we go.”

“I don’t think you could hide them in your carry-on,” Lindsay quipped. Justin gave her an annoyed glare. “You’ve never had a problem before,” she commented, ignoring the glare.

“I know but I just want to be with them,” Justin repeated.

“Well, you can’t ride in the cargo hold no matter how short the flight,” Lindsay said as she walked away. She thought Justin was being ridiculous.

“Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled as he picked up a thick piece of packing wrap and took a hands-on approach.

 

*****
 

“John, Patrick, please come in!” Claire cheerfully greeted them when she answered the door. She was housesitting, accepting deliveries of furniture and supervising the unpacking. “Please excuse the chaos; John is working and Mary is still at their apartment. I’m helping any way I can.” She smiled at her ‘brother.’

“No need to apologize, it’s a big job moving a household,” John smiled. “I just wanted to come by to find out if John and Mary were happy with the repairs.”

“Ecstatic. Better than they hoped for, and thank you. You saved them a ton of money.”

“It was our pleasure. I hope John and Mary will be happy in their new home,” John said then handed Claire a basket of cheer.

“Thank you,” Claire gasped. “That wasn’t necessary; you’ve done so much already.” John smiled. “I wish I could offer you coffee but the kitchen’s a mess.”

“We’re fine but can we get you anything? It looks like you’re stuck here for a while. I could run to the diner for you,” John offered.

“No thank you. I brought a small cooler with sandwiches,” Claire replied.

“Excuse us, ma’am,” a couple of movers called out. John and Patrick moved out of the way as a couple of men were carrying in a sofa.

“We’re in the way,” John said. “Give John and Mary our regards and I hope we see them soon,” John said as he guided his son toward the front door. The movers were on a roll, bringing in more furniture. Claire walked them out.

“John, wait,” Claire said as she followed them to the car. “You’ve been so kind, especially when mother died,” Claire said softly. “I know I haven’t always been very...receptive,” Claire admitted. “But I’m glad you’re part of the family. All of you,” Claire said as she smiled at Patrick.

John said nothing but drew Claire into a hug. “Stay in touch,” he murmured.

“I will,” she promised. “You’re a very lucky man,” Claire said to John as she ruffled Patrick’s hair. Patrick took it gracefully.

“Yes, I am,” John said proudly. He and Patrick got into the Navigator then drove away.

 

*****
 

“You talk to him,” Lindsay spat out as Brian and Bree walked into the gallery. She was fed up with Justin’s packing and re-packing of his paintings.

“What’s got your titties in a knot?” Brian asked her as Bree skipped away in search of her younger father.

“Your partner is being unreasonable,” Lindsay grumbled.

“My partner?” Brian retorted as if Justin could ever be unreasonable. Being unreasonable was his job and he said as much.

“Yeah, well, then he’s learned his lessons well.”

“What’s wrong?”

“He doesn’t want to ship his paintings.”

“So how does he expect them to get to Canada?”

“He wants to fly them there.”

“And...? We fly his stuff all over the world.” Brian didn’t understand the problem.

“He wants to be with the paintings.”

“Be with the paintings. What the fuck does that mean?”

“I have no clue. Perhaps you can find out before all of Pittsburgh runs out of packing materials. He seems to be afraid that something will happen to his art if it’s not sitting in his lap,” Lindsay snarked as she walked away leaving a puzzled Brian in her wake.

“Hi, Sunshine,” Brian said when he found Justin sitting on the bench across from the Fractal projection. Brian sat waiting for Justin to speak.

“Lindsay must think I’m crazy.”

“No, not crazy, unreasonable maybe, but not crazy.” Brian slowly wrapped his arm around his distressed partner. He could feel Justin take a deep breath then slowly exhale. “Can you tell me about it?”

Justin leaned into Brian, trying to get himself under control and express himself coherently. “Some of the work I’m taking, it’s from our honeymoon.”

“The florals,” Brian acknowledged. “They’re some of your most colorful and most beautiful pieces.” Justin nodded.

“And the nudes,” Justin added.

“My naked butt goes to Canada?” Brian gently teased.

“A lot of naked butts go to Canada, even Bree’s,” Justin chuckled as he recalled Bree sitting naked on a rock innocently dangling her feet in the stream.

“She’s a very obedient child. You told her not to get her clothes wet. What better way to insure that they stay dry than by taking them off to keep them out of harm’s way.” Brian smiled at the thought.

“She is very resourceful,” Justin agreed.

“Justin, your work has gone around the world and back. We’ve gone to London. London! It doesn’t get much better than that. And your work went to Paris. I’m still waiting to do that meet and greet. What’s different this time?” Brian gave Justin a little squeeze.

“Not sure, it just feels different and I need to stay with them.”

“Okay. We could hire a truck and follow them up there.”

“Dada?” Bree climbed up to sit on her father’s lap.

“Hey, Squirt.” Brian leaned down to give her a kiss; he brought his other arm around to hold his blonds tightly next to him.

“Dada, how are we going to get to Canada?”

“We have first class tickets on a Liberty Air shuttle. Why?”

“Just wondering.” Bree seemed to contemplate the Fractal movie just like her Daddy. She watched as flowers morphed into fractals then back into flowers. “I like some planes but sometimes all those people are scary,” Bree admitted. Brian gave her a little squeeze.

“I know what you mean. I’m not too fond of being around strangers in a confined area either,” Brian stated. Bree nodded in his arms.

“Dada, are we rich?”

“Rich enough. Why?”

“Can we get our own plane to take us to Canada?” Bree asked as she swung her little legs, gently knocking the back of her shoes into Brian’s shins.

“A private plane?” Justin asked. “Isn’t that a bit extravagant?”

“Not really. Liberty Air does have private planes. We can walk your paintings onto the plane and sit next to them if you want. The cost isn’t that prohibitive. Besides, we’re transporting precious cargo,” Brian said with a smirk as he gave his blonds another squeeze.

“Are you sure?” Justin asked as he looked up into Brian’s eyes.

“For you, I’m very sure,” Brian whispered as he gently swiped his thumb across Justin’s cheek. He then leaned down to place a chaste kiss on Justin’s lips.

Bree giggled. She loved it when her dads were all lovey dovey.

“Thank you,” Justin murmured against Brian’s lips. “And you…!” Justin turned toward Bree. “When did you get to be so smart?” Justin asked loudly as he plucked their daughter off Brian’s lap and swung her around.

Brian smiled as Bree and Justin laughed with joy. Justin suddenly looked like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“I’ve always been smart, Daddy!” Bree declared with confidence.

“She’s right,” Brian agreed. “She’s always been smart.” Brian watched Bree and Justin laugh as Justin carefully flew her through the air in between the exhibits.

“Up, up and away!” Justin said out loud.

“Up, up and away!” Bree squealed with delight.

“Up, up and away,” Brian repeated as he pulled out his cell to call the CEO of Liberty Air.

-tbc-

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