The Letters

Chapter 5 (January-February)
 

 



March 3, 2022

Most Reverend Colm O’Hara
Bishop of St Anthony’s RC Church
Pittsburgh, PA

Your Excellency and my dear friend,

After a brutally cold winter one can almost smell Spring in the air. Believe me when I say I’m not ready to go wading into the stream but one can almost sense the shift in the seasons. The birds can sense it; their music has become a little louder as they call out in search of a mate. Even Beau, the resident watchdog and my savior of sorts, seems a little restless. I think John is seriously considering mating the dog.

Speaking of mates, I suspect the younger generation of the lane has fallen under the spell of the promise of Spring and St. Valentine’s Day. Bree convinced her fathers that a Valentine’s party was a good idea. I’m smiling as I write these words. I recall many Valentine parties we and the good sisters of St. Anthony’s have chaperoned over the years. All with great success, as I remember. This was the first “boy/girl” party that my benefactors have hosted and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Since Valentine’s Day fell on Monday this year, they decided to have the party on the Saturday just prior. Emmett Honeycutt, you remember him, he’s the best caterer in Pittsburgh and has come to the church’s aid when we’ve needed a special event catered. He considers himself one of Bree’s uncles; he took it upon himself to decorate the sun porch and provide the food for the occasion.

It definitely was a memorable afternoon....

Sincerely yours,

Thomas

 

*****
 

“Dada, what are you and Daddy doing for Valentine’s Day?”

“Um, why do you ask?” Brian questioned, wondering what Bree was after now. She seemed to be changing and growing every minute lately. Brian wasn’t sure he liked that.

“It’s apposed to be a special day,” Bree replied.

“I know that.”

“So, what are you doing?”

“Um, it’s a surprise.”

“Ooh, I like surprises.”

Brian studied his far too precocious daughter. Something was definitely up, and she had reverted to her baby talk with “apposed to”. That was a dead giveaway that she was leading up to something.

“Why don’t you just tell me what you want, Squirt.”

“I didn’t say I wanted anything,” Bree stated with a frown. She thought she had been beating around the bush just right. She was honing in to tell her father what she really wanted without him suspecting what was to come. But somehow he was onto her.

“I know you didn’t,” Brian responded, “but I have this feeling…”

“Oh.”

“So what is it?”

“Dada, you always say what a big girl I am…”

“Yes?”

“And I’ll be ten years old in a couple months.”

“A whole ten years, that’s correct,” Brian said with a smile and a small shake of his head. Time flew by so quickly. It seemed like Bree should still be four.

“So, I thought maybe I could have a special party, a grown up party, for Valentine’s Day and my birthday.”

“That’s what you thought, is it?”

“Yes, Dada.”

“And what would this grown up party be like?”

“There’d be girls … and boys,” Bree said her voice barely above a whisper with the “boy” reference. Maybe she was hoping that her father wouldn’t pick up on it.

“Boys! You want to invite boys?”

“Yes, Dada.” Bree scuffed the toe of her shoe on the floor. She stared at the shoe not wanting to look at her father in case he was going to shoot down her idea.

“Since when are you interested in boys?” Brian asked.

“I think boys are … okay,” Bree said as confidently as she could.

Brian frowned. “Are you going to invite Patrick?”

“Sure.”

“And what about Chet?”

“Chet?”

“Yes, I’m sure Patrick would want him to attend, so he will have someone his own age there.”

“I guess Chet could come,” Bree conceded, although Chet was hardly who she had in mind for the boys she would invite to the party.

Brian thought for a moment. He didn’t like to say no to Bree unless there was a good reason. As much as he wanted to say no, he couldn’t think of that good reason for doing so. “Have you asked Daddy about this?” Bree shook her head. “Let me talk to him and I’ll get back to you.”

“I really, really, really want to have this party,” Bree stated firmly. “And it can be my birthday party too,” she added for good measure.

“Valentine’s and birthdays are two separate things. They each have their purpose and their own kind of celebration,” Brian said as he thought about his daughter’s words. He could hardly believe this was him talking. Years ago he would never have said such a thing. Parties were for the birds, unless there was unlimited sex as the mainstay of the event. But Bree and Justin and Gus had changed all that.

“Okay, Dada, but remember that I really, really, really, really want the party.”

“I got it, Squirt. You really want a boy/girl party.”

“Oh yes, Dada. Pleeeeeease!”

“Duly noted.”

 

*****
 

“I know I’m going to regret this,” Brian said as the buzzer at the gate indicated the first guest for the grown up boy/girl party had arrived at Edna’s Treasures Lane.

“Your optimism is overwhelming,” Justin scoffed.

“But I’m always right.”

“Let’s hope not. I want Bree to have a nice party.”

“And you think I don’t?” Brian asked miffed that Justin might doubt that he wanted anything other than the very best for their daughter.

“Brian, we’ve hashed this topic to death, and we agreed that Bree could have this party for Valentine’s Day. So let her enjoy it.”

“But she’s not even ten,” Brian muttered.

“I know how old she is.”

Brian scowled and headed for the front door. Whoever was arriving must be up the lane by now. “Bree,” he called, “your first guest is here.”

“I’m ready, Dada,” Bree said appearing from her bedroom. She was wearing a frothy, pink party frock with her fine blonde hair piled on her head and her rhinestone “B” barrette strategically placed amidst the curls. Emmett had been dressing her for the last hour. “How do I look, Dada?”

“Like a million bucks,” Brian replied after he swallowed the large lump in his throat.

“Just a million?” Bree asked coyly.

“I stand corrected. Make that a billion.”

Bree smiled one of her blazing Taylor smiles and headed for the door, which she opened just in time to meet Chet who was about to ring the bell.

“Hello,” Bree said formally hoping she wouldn’t have to talk to Chet for long.

“Where’s Patrick?” Chet asked not even bothering to respond to Bree’s greeting.

“He’s still getting ready, I guess,” Bree said with a frown, “but this is my party.”

“Yeah, right.”

Brian loudly cleared his throat. He was not going to allow this little cretin to upset Bree and spoil her party.

“Oh, hi, Mr. Kinney, I didn’t see you standing there,” Chet quickly responded, his best oily, good kid manners suddenly in place.

“I thought maybe you didn’t,” Brian said hoping Chet would get the message and be on his best behavior for the rest of the afternoon. The buzzer sounded again indicating that more guests were arriving. “Why don’t you head over to the other side of the cottage, Chet, and see if Patrick’s ready. Bree has other guests to greet.”

Chet quickly scurried away while Bree straightened her dress and smiled up at her father. He took her hand and they opened the door for the next arrivals.

 

*****
 

The party was in full swing. Surprisingly everyone seemed to be having a good time, even Chet. The fact that Chet and Patrick were older made them the center of attention with all the young girls that Bree had invited from her class. Along with Ashley there were four other girls that Brian and Justin had met a few times. They seemed like nice kids. The boys Bree invited were a little young compared to Patrick and Chet, but they were guzzling Coke and talking together in a corner, probably about sports or how dumb dancing was. Mostly it was one girl after another who asked Patrick and Chet to dance. Dancing consisted of some weird gyrations to the fast songs and hands primly placed on waists and shoulders for the slow songs. Nobody moved much from the spot where they started the dance, but it seemed to be okay with all of them. Bree chose one of the boys from her class and they were slow dancing. The boy shuffled his feet and hardly took a step, but Bree seemed happy. She smiled at her daddy when he caught her eye.

“Remind you of anything?” Justin asked Brian as they watched.

“No, why?”

Justin looked up. “Babylon,” was all he said.

Hanging from the ceiling of the sun porch was a mirror ball that Emmett had scrounged from somewhere. Even though it was the middle of the day, not the middle of the night at Babylon, the winter sun glinted off the mirror pieces and sparkled across the floor of the sun porch, and across the dancers as well.

“Hardly,” Brian scoffed.

“You know, I don’t think you have a romantic bone in your body.”

“I’m ridiculously romantic when I want to be.”

Justin smiled making the whole day seem right. “Yes you are,” he agreed.

“The big old fairy sure pulled this off,” Brian commented. “I thought he’d still be having them pin the tail on the donkey, but he got just the right mix of grown up and kid.”

“Yes he did,” Justin concurred. “You be sure to tell him that. He was stressed about this party. The kids are at that awkward age.”

“Like Emmett.”

Justin elbowed Brian in the ribs, not too hard, just hard enough to let him know that he was close to overstepping. “Behave.”

“I have been. Couldn’t you tell?”

Justin laughed out loud and shook his head. “I’m just glad Bree’s happy with this party. She looks like it’s going just the way she wanted.”

Brian nodded in agreement as he watched Bree dance with Patrick who was just in the process of spinning her around so that her pink dress fluttered out around her petite frame. She looked lovely.

 

*****
 

Toward the end of the afternoon as the parents were coming back to pick up their children and the sun was waning, the hosts noticed that the kids were all in a huddle, with Emmett smack in the middle. Brian raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“I’m not liking what I see,” he grumbled to John who was refilling his glass with some iced tea. Justin turned to see what Brian was talking about.

“Looks like they’re planning something,” John replied.

“What’s going on over there?” Bobby asked as he cocked his head toward the pack of kids.

“Not sure, I think we should find out,” Brian growled. But before he could the lights of the chandelier were dimmed and a colored spotlight appeared out of nowhere shining on the mirror ball casting hot pink sparkles throughout the porch. The kids jumped up and down, clapping as several parents oooed and ahhhed at the sight. Brian glared at Emmett who only smiled back at him in defiance.

The music suddenly changed to something very familiar and Bree ran over to Brian.

“Dance, Dada,” Bree commanded.

“What?”

“Dance with Daddy!”

“I, uh...”

“Please, Dada. Auntie Emm told us all about how you and Daddy used to dance at Babylon. So dance.”

“That was a long time ago, Squirt,” Brian said with a slight smirk.

“But, Dada, it’s not something you can forget,” Bree tried to reason with her elder father. Then Patrick got into the act.

“I think you should, Uncle Bri, ‘cause you know she’s not going to let it go until you’ve had at least one dance with Uncle Justin,” Patrick said reasonably. John and Bobby nodded in agreement. Across the porch, Emmett’s smile grew wider as he nodded.

“I’m outnumbered,” Brian said with resignation. He turned to his spouse. “Well, Sunshine, will you honor this aging club queen with a dance or two? I’ll try not to step on your toes,” Brian said with a gleam in his eyes. Emmett had a playlist of all the thumpa thumpa that they made infamous.

Justin held out his hand to Brian as he beamed a beautiful sunshine smile. Brian took it and Justin led him to the middle of the floor just under the mirrored ball. The song switched to “Lovin’ You” as Brian drew Justin in closer and they began to dance. Emmett clapped along with the kids as they watched Brian and Justin dance their somewhat sedate dance considering the age of their audience. As the music changed, more adults began to dance with their spouses then kids jumped in.

The party continued for another couple of hours, as what started out as a boy/girl party for pre-teens transformed into something that the adults could enjoy.

Later that night when the guests had all gone home and the porch was almost back to normal, Brian guided Justin back out to the porch while hiding something behind his back.

“What are you doing?” Justin asked with a laugh as he was pulled along.

“Trying to be ridiculously romantic,” Brian snarked.

“Oh, is that what you’re doing?”

“Yes,” Brian said as he flipped the switches for the mirror ball and the special CD that Emmett had burned for them. Brian twirled Justin around then presented Justin with a huge bouquet of flowers freshly picked from Brian’s greenhouse. Justin smiled, his eyes glittering with happy tears as he gently caressed the flowers then gently laid them on a nearby table.

“Dance with me, Sunshine,” Brian whispered. Justin nodded, moving into Brian’s arms as the music transported them back to Babylon.

Brian danced Justin around the porch while the music changed from slow to fast. Brian scrunched down and pulled Justin in closer. Justin stared into Brian’s eyes. For a moment Brian saw the eyes of that seventeen year old boy who grew into the most important man in his life.

Justin gazed at the face of his lover, his mate of ten years and lover for more than twenty. His body shuddered with desire as the music ended.

“I love you, Brian,” Justin murmured.

“I love you, Sunshine,” Brian replied. Brian kissed Justin, pouring all of his feelings of love into the kiss.

“Take me to bed,” Justin whispered against Brian’s lips. Brian nodded.

Brian turned off all the switches as Justin grabbed his bouquet. Hand in hand the lovers went to bed.

 

*****
 

“So what did you think about the party?” Tom asked Todd as they sat cuddled close on the sofa in the B&B watching the flaming logs in the fireplace.

“I think Emmett went a little overboard,” Todd said dryly.

“Really?” Tom asked as he turned toward Todd.

“Well, just a little,” Todd blushed. “Aren’t we a little too old to be shaking our ass to ancient club music?”

“Are we? We may be older but I’m hardly ancient, and I’m not ready to totally give up on a little harmless dancing. Besides, didn’t you take me to the Honey Bear a few times where as I recall we did a fair amount of dancing?”

“That was different.”

“How?”

“We were in a gay friendly establishment,” Todd tried to explain.

“Excuse me? You can’t get any more gay friendly than this lane. They were dancing in their own home,” Tom stated, incredulously staring at Todd. “Oooh, I get it now. Methinks the kids and their parents may have clouded your appreciation of the afternoon,” he stated wisely.

“Maybe,” Todd murmured with eyes downcast.

“Hey,” Tom said as he took Todd’s chin in his hand then lifted up his face. “I understand. Sometimes it’s not easy to be out and proud especially when you’re unsure of the company. But I trust in Brian and Justin’s judgment. And Bree’s for that matter.”

Tom got up and went into the kitchen to make them a pot of hot cocoa.

“Sometimes when I hear that music it reminds me of some of the foolish things I used to do back then,” Todd admitted as he joined Tom in the kitchen.

“I did a number of foolish things myself when I was younger. We can only hope to learn from our past mistakes and move forward. And know that He will forgive us,” Tom said, sounding more like Father Tom.

“Will He forgive me when I do this,” Todd said boldly as he took the spoon out of Tom’s hand then unabashedly kissed him.
 

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