Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2016 14:11:45 +0000 (UTC)
From: hankbrookscc@comcast.net
Subject: Twenty Years Later  II, Chapter 9

When I re-sent this chapter a while ago, I realize I sent it in the wrong
format, so here it is again.  Somehow it fell through the crack and it' a
very important chapter to further the plot in Book III.


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			    Twenty Years Later
				  Book II
			   (The Family Expands)


				 Chapter 9

 Although Buffalo and Syracuse are only about one hundred fifty miles
apart, and Mac had given Jaden and Michael a low-mileage used Malibu as a
graduation present, they did not come home until Thanksgiving.  They were
too busy getting acclimated, trying out for sports teams, and attempting to
make up their minds if they should join a fraternity.

 They had received several invitations, but they were sure that they were
perceived as handsome jock brothers, and not as gay lovers, so they
hesitated about joining any group.

 Laurie was making Thanksgiving dinner that year.  When her first child was
born, she and James moved out of their pent-house condo, to a very large
home in the suburbs.  She had plenty of room, and plenty of domestic help.
While the family was enjoying dessert, they went around the table telling
each other what they were grateful for.

 Jaden and Michael stood up together, and Jaden spoke for both of them.
"Michael and I are grateful for all of you, the wonderful family we have.
Of course, we are grateful that we have each other.  We want all of you to
know, that we have decided to get married."

 That announcement quickly livened up the otherwise rather somber dinner
table.  Everyone jumped up to hug and congratulate the betrothed couple.
James proposed a toast, and opened another bottle of wine.  That evening
the whole family left James and Laurie's house with full stomachs, and full
hearts.

 On the Saturday before winter break, the family gathered in Arlen and
Kenzie's house.  They huddled around the big screen TV in the den, and the
hosts put out bowlfuls of snack food.  A local TV channel was telecasting
the last Syracuse football game of the season.  The school just happened to
be playing Buffalo in Buffalo.

 Jaden and Michael had both made the cut, and were on the team.  They all
knew that freshman got to play very little, but they hoped to see the boys
warming the bench.  Syracuse was trouncing Buffalo, so at the last minute,
the coach let a few freshmen play in order to gain some experience.  He put
Jaden in as a wide receiver, and the boy actually ran in another touchdown
for Buffalo.  He artfully evaded the defensive team, and the last fifteen
yards was a piece of cake.  They even scored the extra point.  It didn't
change anything, but it narrowed the margin of defeat.

 When the game was over, Mac asked for everybody's attention.  Ari said
jokingly, "No I'm not going to let you leave Dennis, and go straight."

 "Fat chance," Mac sniggered, and he leaned over and gave Dennis a kiss.
"Dennis and I have decided to ask Michael and Jaden if they would mind if
we had a double wedding."

 When the chaos quieted down, Ari started to laugh.  "Larry and I have been
thinking the same thing."  More chaos.

 "How about you old guys?" Ari said to the fathers.  "Why don't you make it
unanimous?"

 Richie spoke for all of them.  I got married twice and both ended in
disasters.  Right now I'm living in a blissful gay heaven, and I don't want
to spoil it."

 "When the boys come home for winter break," Ari said, "I'm going to ask
them how they would feel about a joint wedding, and we'll set the date or
dates as the case may be."

 "I'm pretty sure they'll want to share the happy day with us," Mac piped
in, "but if not, Dennis and I would love to share that day with you and
Larry."

 That last statement got everyone emotional again, and the four brothers
went into a huddle, also known as a group hug.

 The idea of a joint wedding with their cousins, appealed greatly to Jaden
and Michael, and the date was set for the third Saturday in June.  The
college boys would be home by then.  Since Kenzie and Arlen were now fully
retired, they volunteered to do all the prep work.  They booked the gay
church, and the social hall for after the service.  When they told the
pastor that it was going to be a triple wedding, he got really excited, and
volunteered to participate in planning the event with them.  They booked
the caterer, the orchestra, the photographer, and the florist together.
The six young men decided to wear matching tuxedos, so during spring break,
they all went to the formalwear rental store.  The fathers opted for
regular business suits.

 The only thing the grooms did for themselves was to book a week's
honeymoon at The CUMfort Inn in Ft. Lauderdale.

 Two weeks before the wedding, the family announced the upcoming nuptials
in the society page of the local newspaper.  The general public was getting
used to announcements of same sex couple's engagements and weddings, so
there were hardly any eyebrows raised, but something did happen which had
wide-spread consequences.

 Late in the afternoon of the Saturday before the wedding, someone came to
the door of Rob and Richie's house. Richie opened the door, and was
surprised to see a very good looking couple at the door.  The woman was
beautiful, and her ensemble was nicely put together.  The gentleman was
about Rob's age.  He was more casual than she.  He was wearing a sport
shirt, and slacks.

 "Is Rob in?" the woman asked.

 Richie thought that if she asked for Rob, no last name, Rob must know
these people, so he asked them in.

 "He's around the corner with our sons, making some last minute wedding
arrangements with the other grooms.  I'll call him," Richie said, and
pulled out his cell phone.

 The woman put her hand on Richie's arm to stop him.  "Please," she said,
"wait just a minute.  I'm frightened."

 That statement frightened Richie.  "What are you frightened of?" he asked.

 "You're Richard, aren't you?" the man asked.  "My wife will explain
everything."

 Richie took them into the living room and asked them to be seated and
comfortable.  "Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked.  His guests
declined.

 "I'm Jaden's mother," the woman began.  "I used to be Rob's wife.  When
they got rid of me, they were well rid of me.  The court put me in rehab
where I became clean and sober."  She paused and looked at Richie.  "I've
been sober for eleven years now," she stated proudly.

 "When I got out of rehab, I went to one of those technical schools, and I
became a respiratory therapist.  When I was drunk, I used to have trouble
breathing.  I guess that's why I was drawn to that field.  I got a job at a
hospital, and I met Josh there."  She smiled at her husband.  "Josh is an
ENT doctor.  We're married.  I'm Mrs. Joshua Henson, now."

 She paused and looked at Richie.  "I never wanted to disturb Rob or Jaden.
I could see how happy they were.  I've been keeping in touch with Jaden all
these years, from a distance, of course.  When I heard he was getting
married, I wanted to come by personally, and ask him to forgive me, and
allow me to be at his wedding."

 Richie was speechless.  All he could think to say was, "You do know that
Jaden is gay, and that he's marrying my son, Michael."

 "Oh, yes," Josh said.  "Of course, we know."

 "Should I call Rob and Jaden now?"

 Beth grabbed Josh's hand and nodded at Richie.  Rob answered his phone,
and Richie told him to get right home.  There was a pause, and Richie
raised his voice, something he never did.

 "Not in a minute; not just one more thing.  Now!  This is an emergency."

 A few minutes later Rob, Jaden and Michael rushed in.

 "What's wrong?" Rob yelled out with concern.  He didn't even notice the
two strangers in the living room.

 "I'm fine," Richie assured Rob.  "It's not that kind of an emergency."

 Rob relaxed a little and looked at the strangers.  Michael and Jaden just
looked perplexed.  Neither recognized Beth.

 Richie said very quietly, very soothingly, "Rob, this is Dr. and
Mrs. Henson, Josh and Beth."

 Rob looked at the woman, and whispered, "Beth."

 "Yes, Rob," she said.

 Rob sighed.  "How, what happened?  You look wonderful."  He tried to smile
at her, but he was too confused.

 Beth turned her attention to Jaden.  "I've come to ask you to forgive me,"
she said.  "I'm your mother."

 "No that's not possible.  My mother died in the hospital."

 "She didn't die, Jaden," Rob said.  "I lied to you so you wouldn't ask
what happened to her."

 "Your lie was wasted, Dad.  I couldn't care less what happened to her, and
I don't want her here spoiling my wedding."

 Beth began to cry.  Josh put his arm around her shoulder and looked at
Jaden.

 Please, Son," he said, "just hear your mom out, and let her promise you
that she's well now, and she deeply regrets her past."

 "Don't call me Son," Jaden said belligerently.  Michael could see that
Jaden was hurting, so he took his hand.  At the same time, Richie took
Rob's hand.  The poor man was standing rigid and mute, staring at Beth.

 "What did you expect to gain from this?" Michael asked.

 "I need to be forgiven," Beth said.  "I don't want to interfere in your
life.  I just want to beg you to let me be a part of it.  Even a small part
would make me happy.

 "And I have a personal favor to ask of you, Jaden," Josh said.

 "What the fuck could I do for you?" Jaden answered growing more
belligerent.

 "Jaden," Richie yelled at him.  Rob was still mute.

 "I'll tell you," the doctor said.  "I'm a widower, and I have two
children, a daughter and a son.  The first reason I am here is to tell you
that I love your mother very much, probably as much as you love Michael."

Wow, Michael thought, this guy is really diplomatic.  That last statement
had to have moved Jaden.

 "I want her to be happy, and if you forgive her she will be happy.  Can't
you see how she is hurting?  You've had a happy life with your father.
Your mother hasn't had a happy day since she lost you."

 Jaden lowered his head.  He looked sad.

 "As I told you, Josh went on, "I have a daughter who recently got married.
She's no longer living at home.  My son is seventeen.  He's a senior in
high school.  On the last day of school, he came home, bloody, cut and
bruised.  He couldn't make his high school graduation."

 "What happened?" Jaden asked.  He looked up and into Josh's eyes.  The
doctor was crying.

 "He was gay bashed."  Josh could not say more.  He was sobbing now.  Jaden
remembered Mac's story, and he softened.  He became the sensitive pussy cat
he really was.

 "I was hoping that you and Michael would be his friend, and mentor him.
Think of him as being your step brother.  You two are only a year and a
half older than he is.  He's accelerated in school, and he'll be a freshman
at the University of Buffalo in the fall.

 "Michael squeezed Jaden's hand and whispered into his ear, "Do the right
thing, honey.  Our pastor would tell you that forgiveness is divine."

 Now it was Jaden and Rob sobbing like babies.  Beth joined in with the wet
bath.  Suddenly, Jaden ran to his mother, and put his arms around her.
"Momma," he cried.

 Nobody wanted to spoil the moment, so Michael went over to Josh, who was
smiling now.  "When can we meet my brother?" Michael asked.

 When Michael said, "my brother," Josh had to stop himself from crying
also.

 "He's waiting in the car," he said.

 "Good God, Man.  Bring him in."

 Josh ran out, and seconds later brought in his son, Bryan.  Bryan's face
was swollen and black and blue, but Michael could see that he was good
looking.  It was easy to see why he had been bashed.  He was thin, and
delicate, unlike Jaden and him, who were muscular jocks.

 Michael put his arm around Bryan's shoulder.  "Too bad, I didn't know you
last year," he said.  "I could have given you some boxing lessons.  But
don't worry.  You won't have to put up with that shit at UB.  Bullying
seems to be a high school thing."

 "Is that Jaden hugging my stepmother?" Bryan asked.

 "Yeah," Josh said.  "Maybe we can break them up long enough for you to
meet him."

 Jaden and Beth weren't quite ready to separate, but they finally did.
Bryan expected Jaden to shake his hand, but Jaden was too emotional for
that.  He embraced Bryan in a bone crushing hug.

 "I want you to meet the rest of my family, and everyone is home now.  Let
me call them to come over.  They're right around the corner."

 "Before they come over," Josh said, "I want to ask you four if you would
go out to dinner, on me, tonight."  Rob was the only one who had doubts,
but he went along with the rest of them, who were all for it.

 Finally, Beth walked over to Rob.  "I'm so sorry," she said.  I didn't
mean to hurt you.  I was sick you know."

 Rob didn't know what to say, so he decided to compliment Beth.  "You look
younger and prettier than the day we were married," he said.  She smiled
and kissed him on the cheek.

 When the rest of the family came over, there was utter chaos when Richie
told them what was going on.  Rob still couldn't talk.  Everybody else
seemed to be talking at once.  Michael and Jaden were monopolizing Bryan.

 After our wedding next week," Jaden said, "we are going down to Florida
for our honeymoon.  We'll only be gone a week, and when we come back, we'll
give you plenty of our time.  You can hang out with us and our cousins all
summer.  I promise you, nobody will ever bash you again."

 "I've got an idea," Michael said.  "When we go back to school, let's rent
a small U-Haul for our things.  One of us can drive the U-Haul and one of
us can drive our car.  All three of us can travel together.  It'll be fun."

 "You mean it?" Bryan asked.  Michael and Jaden nodded, and Bryan embraced
both of them.

 Not only did Beth, Josh and Bryan attend the joint wedding, but their
daughter, Sara, and her new husband were there, Mac's mother and her
husband, and Mac's old roommates, who he finally came out to.  The family
seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds.  It appeared that Laurie was not
going to have more children, but now Sarah was in the family also.  There
was no end to the expansion of this family.

 The End.