PAR-TAY WITH BREE

Epilogue




 

“Bye, Hannah! Bye, Brenda!” Bree called out from her front door as Brenda’s mom was buckling the girls into the back seat of her car. She was waving her arms so enthusiastically, as if she was never going to see her friends again. The girls would all be seeing each other the next day at school.

“Bye, Breeee! See you in schooo-ool!” the girls called out, waving their arms madly too.

“We must be leaving as well,” Mrs. Vanderbrot stated as she quickly shepherded Winona out the door and towards her car. “Thank you so much for having Winona. I’m sure you’d all like to get back to doing...” Six pairs of eyes twinkled with mischief. Six smiles shone brightly back at Mrs. Vanderbrot. “Um, whatever you all do here. Come along, Winona.”

Brian and Lindsay, with their arms around each other’s waist had walked Winona and her mother out. They were followed closely by Justin and Mel who appeared to be extremely chummy and smiling goofily at each other. Emmett’s flames seemed to be set on high, and Drew’s drawl became more pronounced as they all wished the Vanderbrot women a fond farewell and a good day. Only Susanna with Ashley and JR remained safe in the sun porch with John, Bobby and Patrick.

“Bye, Bree.”

“Bye, Winona,” Bree replied then she scurried back into the house closely followed by the supposed adults.

“You know you guys are very bad,” John said trying to sternly admonish them but failing miserably as the motley crew came back into the porch. He got six pairs of seemingly innocent eyes all blinking at him in return.

Then they all cracked up with laughter.

“Do you guys always tease your guests like that?” Susanna asked as she sipped her iced tea in between giggles. Susanna, having spent some time with the family of Edna’s Treasures, and being very perceptive, was onto them.

“Not usually,” Justin admitted with a slight blush to his cheeks. “But, um...”

“We couldn’t resist, could we, Sunshine?” Brian asked with mirth in his eyes. They all joined John, Bobby and Susanna at one of the wicker tables.

Emmett poured iced teas for everyone then held up his glass for a toast. He announced, “I declare the pink princess sleepover a complete success!”

“Hear! Hear!” everyone joined in as they raised their glasses.

The April afternoon was warm enough so the girls and Patrick were out exploring by the stream. Beau was with them supervising. Emmett had brought in a tray of luscious things to nibble on as they all began to relax. The sun porch was almost back to normal, although pink, purple and white fabric was still draped along the railings and from the rafters. Emmett promised to return later in the week to remove it. Bree had begged her fathers and her uncles to let the sun porch remain a princess fairyland for just a little while longer. And as long as there was at least one easel Justin could use, no one had any objections. The fairyland would remain for a few more days.

“Will Ashley and Bree be all right out there?” Susanna asked. She wasn’t used to having her daughter running loose on such a large property.

“They’ll be fine,” John reassured her. “JR and Patrick won’t let anything happen to the girls, and Beau is the best early warning system you can ever have. Bree and Patrick have grown up here. They have a healthy respect for the land.”

“You must think I’m a worry wart,” Susanna said.

“Not at all,” Justin assured the woman. "Brian and I grew up in Pittsburgh. It took us a while to get used to living out here.”

“Do you miss the city?”

“Sometimes,” Justin admitted. “But not enough to move back. We love it here,” Justin added although unnecessarily.

“We love our cozy little cottage!” Emmett gushed. “Don’t we, honey?” he asked Drew.

“Yes, we do, Babe.”

“Ours is like a dream come true,” Lindsay commented.

“It’s a perfect getaway,” Mel added.

“Speaking of get away,” Drew began. “I think we should let these good people get back to normal,” Drew suggested with a poignant look at Emmett.

“Okay, honey,” Emmett said to Drew. Then he turned to Brian with a dramatic bow. “My liege, does this humble servant have your permission to take leave.” The family snickered.

“Get out, Honeycutt!” Brian growled unconvincingly. Emmett and Drew gathered up their jackets then walked out the sun porch door to the garden.

“And don’t call me Honeycutt!” Emmett shouted over his shoulder.

“I should get Ashley,” Susanna said as she got up.

“We need to get going too,” Mel said. “We have to close up the cottage then drive back to the Pitts. Not all of us get to live full time in paradise.”

The men of Edna’s Treasures saw their friends and family to the door.

 

*****
 

“Well, Sunshine, we managed to survive another cottage event,” Brian said removing his clothes to get ready for bed.

“Yes, we did. With a little help from our friends,” Justin said as he climbed into bed and cuddled close to his lover.

“You mean a lot of help from our friends.”

“Yeah,” Justin said with a yawn.

“Is this one of those times I should be happy that I don’t get what I want,” Brian stated, parroting back his daughter’s statement as he looked down his nose to the top of the blond head that was tucked under his chin. “Good night, Sunshine,” Brian whispered getting back only soft snores as his response. He kissed the soft blond hair then followed his lover into sleep.

 

*****
 

“Hi.”

“Hey.”

“The end of the semester is getting closer.”

“Yeah.”

“I miss you.”

“Miss you too, Ray. What’s wrong? You sound funny.”

“I, um...”

“Ray?”

“It’s not what you think!”

“What do I think?”

“That I’m like that asshole, Cole, and that I fuck around.”

“Why would I think that?”

“This guy sorta came onto me.”

“And?”

“And nothing. I really, really don’t want anybody else.”

“So why the drama?”

“Because the fucker lives in the neighborhood and I’ve been getting some shit about him from some of the guys I hang out with and the more I tell them nothing happened, the more they tease me and they don’t believe me and I don’t want to ruin what we have and I really, really love you and...”

“And I think you better breathe!”

Ray took a big gulp of air then let it out. “The Memorial Day weekend,” Ray began.

“What about it?”

“Do you think your ‘rents will let you come here?”

“I can ask.”

“Please?”

“I’ll call everyone tomorrow and ask.”

“Thanks. Gus, I really, really love you.”

“I love you too.”

"Are you mad at me?"

"No. Shit happens; believe me, I should know."

"So are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good. Ray, we're really young and I want to be just your boyfriend and not fuck around but..."

"Shit happens? I get it. But I want to be upfront with stuff."

"Ditto."

“Good night, Gus.”

“Good night, Ray.”

 

*****
 

“So, what do you think of the idea?”

“Of adopting? Do you think we’d qualify for a child?”

“I don’t see why not? Ben and Michael adopted Hunter, and Raph and Hector adopted Curtis.”

“Honey, Ben and Michael are Mister and Mister Boring U.S.A. And Raph and Hector are such upstanding members of the community the judge couldn't turn them down.”

“And we’re not upstanding citizens?”

“Drew, you came out on national television and I’m an ex-internet porn star! What makes you think a judge would let us adopt a child?”

“Emmett, let me ask you something.”

“All right.”

“If no one cared about any of those things, would you want to be a parent? Now, answer me truthfully.”

“Truthfully, I really want to be somebody’s mother.”

“Then tomorrow I’m calling Melanie and we’re going to seriously look into fostering or adopting.”

“You mean it?”

“Babe, I’ve never been this serious in my whole life other than making you my partner.”

“Oh Drewsie! I love you.”

“I love you, Emm. And I’m making you a promise, by this time next year, you’ll be planning our own child’s birthday party.”

“Paaar-tay!”


TBC
 

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