And Never Brought to Mind
Chapter 8
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Friday morning and Edna's Treasures was
abuzz with activity. The men were getting ready for work and the children were
getting ready for school. After the rocky start at the beginning of the week,
they were all falling into a nice routine.
John and Bobby were off to take Patrick to
school as Brian, Justin and Bree headed for
"Justin, drop me and Bree off and
then take the car so you can chauffeur JP and Katerina around."
"Okay. I want Katerina to see the
Kinney/Patrick exhibit. We can meet you later for lunch." Justin kissed
Brian and Bree then drove to the hotel to pick up his 'cousins.'
Justin had fun shepherding the
"Hey,
Sunshine."
"Hey, yourself. What's up?"
"Not me at
the moment but I need to tell you something and I think you better sit
down."
Justin became slightly alarmed and found a
bench in a quiet corner. "Okay, I'm sitting. Please don't tell me
something bad happened."
"Depends on your
point of view."
"Brian!"
"Down, partner. We've been summoned."
"We?"
"Yes, we, including
JP and Katerina. The whole
gang is getting calls as we speak. Tonight. And we
better not refuse."
"How did she find out?"
"Jus, you know her network of spies
is almost as advanced as mine. It would have happened sooner or later."
"Yeah, but I was hoping to get them
safely back on the plane before she got the chance."
"Not a snowball's chance in
hell." At that moment Lindsay ran out of the office with her cell phone at
arm's length. Justin could hear Melanie shrieking on the other end.
"Shit, Melanie must have gotten the summons.
She's cursing at Lindsay now."
"That explains my ears burning. She
must be cursing me out too. I gotta go, Sunshine. Mikey's calling and Ted just
ran into my office. And if I'm not mistaken, Emmett's on my other line."
"Shit! Brian, how does one translate
Debbie for JP and Katerina?"
"I haven't a fucking clue.
Later."
"Later," Justin said meekly.
"Justin, are you all right?" JP
saw the distress on Justin's face. Justin could only shrug.
A few hours later Justin, Brian, JP and
Katerina pulled up in front of Debbie's. They had dropped Briana off with
Grandma Jenn. They were deep into consultations about new outfits for Bree's
dolly when they left. A great evening would be had by all at the
"Well, I suppose we have to go
in," Brian sighed as he cut the engine.
"Excuse me," JP said, "but
I thought this was a party. Why are you so … so reluctant to go in?"
"The person giving this fiesta is …
um … a little unusual," Brian tried to explain.
"A lot unusual," Justin
corrected.
"More unusual than
your father?" JP asked
with a look of wonder on his face.
Brian snorted. "A
different kind of unusual."
"Excuse me, please, but what does
that mean? Katerina is getting frightened."
"Debbie is a wonderful woman, but she
comes on rather … strong. Try to prepare yourself for
the Spanish Inquisition," Brian told JP.
"I … I don't understand," JP
said apprehensively.
"It's very hard to explain, but just
know that her intentions are good," Justin said, as the door to the house
was flung open.
"Get your asses out of that vehicle.
Everybody's here and we're fucking waiting for you." Debbie's voice cut
through the night air.
"Let's go," Brian sighed. "The fun's about to begin."
Slowly they climbed out of the Cherokee.
JP and Katerina looked rather bewildered as they marched stoically up the path
to Debbie's front door.
"So you're the people I've been
hearing about," Debbie said holding onto JP's shoulders and looking him up
and down. "I can see the
"Actually JP was looking for anyone
in our family," Justin supplied. "He happened to find my father
first."
"Shit!" Debbie reacted.
"What's the word for too fucking bad in Spanish?
Never mind! Get yourselves into the house. We have tons of food. That'll make
you all feel better."
"Along with a fifth of scotch,"
Brian mumbled as Debbie shoved them into the house.
Everyone was assembled inside with their
bowls of putanesca and glasses of wine. Justin made the introductions of JP and
Katerina and made sure they got some food.
"So," Debbie said cornering
Katerina, "what are you and your brother planning to do now that you've
found Justin?" Katerina stared at her with big eyes. "It's a simple
question. There seems to be some concern that you're after his money."
"She doesn't speak English,
Deb," Justin said as soon as he realized what was happening. He had been
talking to Emmett. "They're not after my money. They just wanted to check
out their heritage."
"Who knew that Patrick Taylor was so
fucking prolific," Debbie laughed. "And here I thought he was
gay."
"He may have been gay, but he wanted
children," Justin replied.
"Looks like he got
his wish, and in spades.
Have you figured out how many children he had?"
"Several."
"Holy fucking shit!" Debbie was
her usual effusive self.
"JP, how many children do you know
Patrick Taylor had?"
"At least
three."
"So you're descended from these
children?" Debbie asked her guest.
"From one of them," JP agreed.
"This is really fucking
unbelievable," Debbie reacted.
"It is the way of the world," JP
said simply.
"And he's a philosopher too,"
Debbie laughed.
JP frowned wondering what this loud woman
was talking about. He merely stated what he thought.
"Eat up," Debbie ordered.
There's plenty more where that came from. She bustled off to the kitchen to
dish up some more of her pasta.
"I see why you tried to warn me,"
JP said to Justin. "She's … different."
Justin chuckled. "You got that
right."
"But she has good food."
"Make sure you tell her that, and
you'll make her day."
JP smiled and nodded.
Justin looked around, but didn't see Brian
anywhere. He headed towards the back door figuring that Brian had beat a hasty
retreat to the calm and quiet of the back yard. He opened the door and stepped
outside. Brian and Michael were standing looking up at the stars while Brian
smoked a cigarette.
"JP seems to be okay," Brian was
saying.
"But how do you really know that? You
and Justin are worth a lot of money," Michael countered.
"Jesus, Mikey. You sound like Justin's fucking father."
"Well, I'm just looking out for your
best interests. Isn't that what best friends do?"
Brian let out a sigh. "Yeah,"
was all he said.
"Brian," Justin interrupted.
"I think JP and Katerina might be ready to leave." He thought maybe
it was time they all got out of there.
"That sounds like a plan," Brian
said.
"Be careful," Michael warned.
"I'm a big boy and so is Justin. We
can handle this."
"I hope so," Michael added.
Justin took Brian's hand and they went
back inside. They spoke to JP and Katerina who were more than ready to leave.
They had felt very overwhelmed by the crowd of people and all their questions.
Even kind and gentle people like the very muscular man who was Debbie's
son-in-law had bombarded them with questions. After some rapid goodbyes they
made their way out to the Cherokee.
When the door to the house closed behind them,
the room erupted with more questions and admonishments.
"I wonder who they really are?"
"Brian and Justin need to be
careful."
"That Katerina is a beautiful girl.
Do you think she's looking for a rich husband?"
"She's looking in the wrong place
coming here."
"That JP has the most beautiful
eyes."
"They seemed nice, but you never
know."
As the Cherokee drove away, Brian looked
at his somewhat shell shocked passengers in the backseat. "Don't worry.
They're harmless, and I think they've had all their shots."
Brian was deep in thought as they drove to
Jennifer's to pick up the Squirt and then head for the hotel. As Justin jumped
out of the Cherokee to get their daughter, Brian had an evil but nice thought.
He turned to look in the back seat to ask his newly found 'family' an important
question.
"Tomorrow is Saturday; did you two
have any plans?"
"No, not really, maybe drive through
the city again," JP answered for them both and quickly translated for his
sister.
"Good, then you're going to pack an
overnight bag and come home with us. Believe me, the Pitts is not that
interesting."
"Come home with you?"
"Yep, I think I have a plan."
"What plan?" Justin asked as he
opened the back door to strap Bree into her car seat.
"A little barbecue plan," Brian
snarked then he motioned for them to switch places. "You drive; I have
some calls to make. To the hotel, James."
"Asshole," Justin groused with a
grin. He pulled out into the street as Brian took out his cell.
"Deb, is the gang still there
gossiping about us?" Debbie was the first on Brian's call list.
"Yes, you asshole, and didn't you
just leave here?"
"Aw, Maw, give me a fucking
break."
"What is it, kiddo, you leave your
favorite butt plug behind?"
"You know, Deb, that's even gross for
you. I called to issue my own summons. You can pass it along to the gang. The cottage, tomorrow afternoon at one. The last big
barbecue of the season before it gets nasty. It's supposed to be warm and
sunny. Oh, and bring Lacy."
"What are you up to?"
"I'm always up. See you tomorrow and
tell Emmett he better not wake me at eight."
"Goodnight, kiddo."
"Night Maw, and
good night, Mikey!"
Brian laughed as he cut the connection.
On the other end, Debbie howled with
laughter as Michael turned beet red as he hung up the extension phone.
"John?" Brian made his second
call.
"Hi, Bri, what's up?"
"Why is everyone interested in my
cock?"
"Maybe because it has its own zip
code," John answered without hesitation. Over the years John had grown
very wise in the ways of Brian Kinney. "How was the summons?"
"Not bad and I issued one of my own
for tomorrow afternoon. You think your mom and Steve can join us?"
"I'll call them now. See you
soon?"
"We're on the way."
"Later, bro."
"Later."
It was easy enough to pick up whatever JP
and Katerina would need for a couple of days, drive to the cottage and then
settle them in for the night.
The lovers cuddled close in the middle of
their four poster, looking at each other.
"Bri, I think my gerbil jumped ship
and is doing a tango in your brain. What's going on in there?" Justin
gently thumped the top of Brian's head.
"Something about the timing of all
this has been grating on my nerves."
"What do you mean? Are you thinking
like my father that JP and Katerina are after my money?"
"No, Sunshine, I don't believe that.
If that were true, they would have had a lawyer drop papers in our lap
demanding a cut. No, it's something else. I just haven't worked it all out
yet."
"And you think by bringing everyone
together tomorrow, you'll be able to figure it out?"
"Not sure. But why did JP take so
long to introduce his sister to us?"
"Maybe it's just like he said, she's
shy, young and doesn't speak much English."
"No, there's more to it. And Justin,
when we went to
"Okay. I love you, you know."
"I know." The lovers somehow got
impossibly closer and fell asleep.
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"Helloooo!"
"Fuck! I will personally yank his
balls off and shove them down his fucking throat." Brian cursed Emmett as
he got out of bed to go to the sun porch door.
"Brian! Pants!"
Justin rolled over and buried himself under a pillow. Whoever was at the door,
Brian was more than capable of dealing with him.
"Emmett, I said not before
eight!"
"It's not before eight; it's
eight-thirty." Emmett smiled his best toothy grin while Drew blushed and
tried his damnedest to make himself very small.
"Go. Kitchen.
Make coffee, plenty of coffee and do NOT wake up the kids. I am going back to
bed. You will NOT wake me before nine-thirty. Understood?"
"Understood, your
majesty."
Brian mumbled another curse then stumbled
back to bed.
Promptly at nine-thirty, a gentle rap at
their bedroom door awakened Justin.
"Come in?" Justin softly called
out.
"Hey, baby, you
decent?" Emmett was
carrying a tray with coffee and fresh biscuits.
"Em, what are you doing?"
"Bringing the king
and his consort breakfast in bed.
Now, wake up his majesty before this gets cold. I know he hates cold
coffee."
"He's awake." Brian rolled over
to glance at the clock then snorted at the time. "Emmett, I'll kill you
later, after my coffee."
"You do that. Here ya go, sweetums. Enjoy. I'll start breakfast for the masses. I
think I hear your little angel and if those giggles I hear coming from the
other cottage mean anything, Patrick just woke up his dads. Kids make the
greatest alarm clocks," Emmett chuckled, then
left to go back to the kitchen.
Emmett and Justin shooed away everyone
from the kitchen. Everyone left with heaping plates of Emmett's morning
delicacies to eat at their leisure. John and Drew went to watch ESPN and talk
sports. Bobby took the kids along with JP and Katerina through the garden and
down to the stream. Brian escaped the madness by going to his office to look
over some contracts and catch up on business news via the internet. They had a
few hours before the family would descend upon them. Something didn't add up
and Brian was determined to figure it out by the end of the day. Then let the
chips falls where they may.
Brian's eyes wandered toward Justin's end
of the attic office. He smiled softly, shaking his head at the pile of papers
and mess that constituted Justin's organization of his desk. No matter how long
they lived together, Justin was still a slob. He kept everything they shared
neat and orderly, but whatever was truly Justin's was still a mess. Brian
crossed to Justin's desk to shuffle through the papers trying to make sense of
it all. As he came across a folder that said 'Edna' a few notes in Edna's
distinctive scrawl fluttered out.
As Brian retrieved the papers, many had
sticky notes attached with Justin's scribble on them. They all said the same
thing, "Edna-need help reading this." Brian shook his head again. If
Justin needed help 'translating' Edna's handwriting, he could have come to him.
Brian had no problem reading the woman's scrawl. One note in particular caught
Brian's eye and it might be the key to JP and Katerina.
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Brought To Mind