Guillermo, in addition to attending a private school to first take a middle school degree, then the high school one, had also enrolled in a swimming course and on my advice, in a driving school, so he was very busy all day. He also admitted that we luckily had taken the Philippine boy for the domestic chores.
He decided to take the classic high school degree: this enabled him to learn more about the Italian culture ("to become truly Italian" as he put it) and if necessary, then, even to enroll in any university course, if he still had felt like going on to study.
Meanwhile we did blood tests and, thankfully, we both were healthy. So with great joy for Guillermo, we could stop using condoms when making love. Physically, there was not a big difference, but psychologically yes.
I also searched for information about Guillermo's military service and I discovered that if he applied for volunteer work in the civil service, would stay in Rome, and could sleep at home, consistently with his work shifts. So I made him immediately submit the application.
In July, his application was accepted and was assigned to a "non-profit organization" that takes care of children born to immigrants from outside Europe. After a short preparation course, he began his service. He liked it a lot.
"I know what means to be a child left to himself... I can communicate with those children, even in spite of the language... often they do not yet speak Italian. But, see Daniel, I feel useful, I can give them a little love, take care of them. And then, I can also continue to live with you. I'd never said before... but after all I was lucky. "
"Despite everything you've been through?"
"Yes. And see... if I had not had that life, perhaps I would have never met you. My luck is you, my love. I was really a wounded, lost, abandoned puppy... it is you who have cured me by your love, that made me become a man, making me get out of the jungle. So now I have to do something for those little children, to give them a little love. "
"It's not that you want to take them to bed, right?" I asked him jokingly.
"Huge stupid! Of course not. But you did not heal me taking me to bed. Many had already done that. No. You have healed me by giving me your love, even though I was just... a little dog, a mongrel. "
'That night I was just looking for a guy to take to bed, and not a puppy to heal. "
"Yes, it is true. But you did not limit yourself to that. Because you're a good man, right, honest. And you know how to love."
"And you have let me love you... and you are able to love."
"Thanks to you. You know, I've decided. When I get the high school degree, I would like to study pedagogy and psychology because I want to devote myself to abandoned, abused, dispossessed children. What do you think?"
"Yes, it seems very good. And I will work for you to have all the money that you will need. I am only able to make money..."
"No, you are able to do miracles. And one of the things I like about you is that even if your job is to make money, you are a generous man, you didn't become a slave of the capitalist mentality. This is one of the many things I like about you."
"Many?"
"A lot. And I am not just talking about that..." he said, giggling and caressing between my legs. "That I anyway like a lot!"
"Sometimes I think that life is odd... You see, my luck is that I graduated in economics and trade, against my will, inspired by my mother and on my father's order. In that I have learned really well languages, according to my wish, with the permission of my father and my mother's indifference. And that I never wanted to marry, because I am who I am, against the will of Mom and Dad... My luck, because it is all this that led me to you. "
"What have your family said, when they heard you have a son?" then Guillermo asked.
"Mom and Dad... they were a little disrupted at the news of having, all of a sudden, a grandson already eighteen years old, but happy to have it. And maybe also to think that even if I did not marry, I like women. I think they were beginning to suspect something about me, my sexuality. Also my sisters had a similar reaction. The only one who really knows about you and me is my brother Giovanni. He is happy for me, for us. "
"He's still with his boyfriend, your brother?"
"Yes, with Silvano."
"You'll let me know then, someday?"
"Sure, I will make you know my whole family... your family, now that you are also a Savoldi. How does it feel to be a Savoldi, now, and no longer an Olivera, at least here in Italy?"
"How does it feel? Wonderful, because it's a bit like we're married, right? Although officially we are father and son. And I have an advantage over those who are married..."
"Oh yeah? And what would this advantage be?" I asked with a tone between amused and intrigued.
"That you can not divorce me! There is still no divorce between fathers and sons."
"But you can send me to jail for falsifying a public document, and so get rid of me."
"Yes, certainly, and so I also go to jail for collusion... But I hope that we will be put in the same cell, if it were to happen." he said giggling, then kissed me.
Sometimes I get to compare my first encounters with Guillermo, his seriousness, the fact that he never smiled, with his attitude these days: the change is incredible. And this is the true Guillermo, and I really like him more and more.
As I write these pages, my Guillermo is working with "his" children. He should return home in a few hours. It always seems too long.
Ah, I've not yet written about when I finally went to visit my parents, then my sisters and Giovanni, along with Guillermo.
Let's start with my parents, the "grandparents" of my boy.
Arrived in Parma, we went straight in a taxi to my parents'. I made the introductions... At first they all were a little embarrassed. Dad and Mom did the usual questions somewhat formal: Do you like Italy? Do you like Italian food? You speak Italian well... Daniele told us that you're dealing with children, do you like? And so on.
Guillermo replied, and was courteous and quite relaxed, although for me that know him well, quite formal. But gradually the ice broke. My mother was the first to be conquered by Guillermo and his fresh cheerfulness. My father, perhaps more suspicious by nature, needed some more time. But he too finally accepted that "nephew" dropped from the sky.
"I'm glad to have known you, Guillermo." said my father when he finally capitulated.
"I too, Mr. Savoldi." said my boyfriend with a warm smile.
"Good. So... could you not call me Grandpa?" asked my father studying his expression.
"Yes, of course, gladly... grandfather." Guillermo replied warmly.
"Daniele told me by phone that you think you will enroll at the university." said my father.
"Yes. I would like to specialize in pedagogy and psychology, to devote myself to the problems of children..." Guillermo explained.
"How nice!" my mother said, then, glancing at Dad, said to him: "It is not true?"
"Yes... if this pleases our grandson." Dad said not convinced.
"I really like it, Grandpa. I, you know, I have not had an easy childhood, before finally knowing my father. My mother had not wanted to tell him... is not his fault... Therefore I now want to do something useful for children who have problems at home. Not everyone is as lucky as my father, who had you as parents. "
That rogue! I thought. But I admired his skill.
The ice was broken anyway. My father took him in the living room to show him the family pictures, and of when I was a kid...
Mom said to me: "Your son looks like you, Daniele. It is clear that he is a Savoldi. Too bad you didn't find out before that you have a son. Bah. Better late than never."
I thought it was funny how, when you want to find a similarity, you can also see it where there is not. Indeed Guillermo really bore no resemblance at all to me, physically.
My mother seemed to reflect for a while, and then finally asked, "It's not that you have other children somewhere, right?"
"No way, Mom! That time it was just a youthful mistake, so to speak. Even if today I'm glad I made that mistake: I really like Guillermo, I could not wish for a better son."
"Yes. And it shows that you love each other. He is a sweet boy. And... even if you're not married... I'm glad to have a grandchild."
"A great grandson - now he's almost as tall as me. However also Beatrice and Silvana already gave you grandchildren, right?"
"Yes, of course, and I love them, of course. But they are not Savoldi. And Giovanni, unfortunately... You know that, right? Giovanni told me that you know..."
"Yes, I know. But why do you say unfortunately, Mom? After all, Giovanni seems happy and Silvano seems to be a good man..."
"Yes... yes... it could be as you say, but... I wonder where I went wrong bringing up Giovanni to make him... as he is."
"Mom! One does not become gay, either you are or you are not... It is not your fault or cause, nor dad's, and not a choice of Giovanni. The important thing is that Giovanni is happy and has found a good guy, a good companion. And he would also be happier if he knew that you two do not have such a grief. "
"I'll be old, I do not know, but... It is not easy to accept it. I love him, of course, but... he would want us to accept Silvano as family, but I just can not."
"That's bad, Mom. If you tried, you would feel better - both you and Giovanni. And if indeed you love Giovanni, you cannot but be fond of the guy he loves. No?"
I knew that even if my mother could not imagine it, I was pleading my cause as well. But I also thought that, if she did not suspect that I too am gay, maybe my words would have a greater effect on her.
"But, Daniele... if I think that Giovanni goes to bed with a man and that does... that does those things..."
"Mom, when you think of Beatrice or Silvana, you do not think about what they do in bed with their husbands, right? Why do you think about what Giovanni and Silvano do in bed, then?"
"What your sisters do... is natural."
"Even what Giovanni and Silvano do is natural. In the sense that they follow their nature. And anyway, what is important is that they love each other, right?"
"But how you'd feel like, if I found out that your Guillermo is... that way?"
"I would try to continue to love him just as before and continue to be near him, and pray God for him to have a happy life, even if the world is cruel to those who live in a different way from most people. I believe that Giovanni's adolescence has been quite difficult, because of his feelings. "
"Accept that Silvano as a son in law? But Giovanni is not a woman, right? Then I should accept that Silvano as a daughter in law? You understand that in any case around, it does not work?"
"But why not? You must think of Silvano, and not 'that Silvano' as you keep saying, just as the person who loves our Giovanni and that makes him happy."
"It is not easy..."
"Nothing is easy, until you succeed. It only depends on us to make it become easy... Don't you realize that as long as you don't accept in your heart Silvano, you also do not accept in your heart half of Giovanni?"
My mother nodded briefly. From the other room came the deep laughter of my father as well as the high-pitched one of Guillermo. The two were bonding, and this made me very happy, even if it was the result of a subterfuge.
We went to see Beatrice with her husband Marco and their four children. Guillermo tied immediately with his "cousins ". He really knew how to do with kids. Even if the eldest son of Beatrice was practically a contemporary of Guillermo, and the youngest was nine years old.
Beatrice at one point said to me: "Good, our little brother! But tell me, what effect did it to you to find that you are the father of that big boy?"
"Very good. We're very well together."
"Yes, It could be seen. Were he not your child... you could almost think that you are lovers rather than father and son, you are just looking at each other like Giovanni with Silvano."
I looked at her a little surprised by that remark. Then, just to hide the slight embarrassment that I was feeling, asked her: " Do you know Silvano?"
"Yes." Mark replied, "At times time we meet. I think he is a good guy. And you would not think he's gay, as indeed you would not even for Giovanni."
"Not all gays are effeminate; actually, the majority are not. Most times you do not see anything. Especially in San Francisco I've met many gay people and they look perfectly normal."
"Yes, I believe you." Mark said. "Silvano is anyway a nice guy, agreeable."
"God, Daniele, you had to be there when Giovanni told us... You can imagine how Dad reacted..." said Beatrice.
"Badly, I think..." I said.
"You know him, right? He turned white as a sheet, and his hands were shaking. He said nothing. Then took Giovanni face to face and..."
"They had an argument?"
"No. Neither of them has a quarrelsome character. But I know they discussed it without mincing terms."
"But in the end Dad and Mom had to give up, no?" I asked.
"No, not to give up. They simply took note. Giovanni is like Dad, he does not give in so easily. Neither of them yields easily."
"And you? What was your first reaction?" I asked curiously.
"Marco and I? Well, you know, apart from some surprise... after all it is his life, right? If he was glad... Everyone is how he is. And when we met also Silvano, and saw that they love each other, we put our heart at peace. The only thing that could have worried me was that Giovanni was not happy. "
"And... your children? Do they know about Giovanni and Silvano?"
"Yes, of course. They had even fewer problems than we. For the little ones, Marco and I had to explain that... there is also that possibility, of course. But you know, kids today accept even more easily than us... "
"Not always. I think that the fact that Mark and you have accepted, has been important for them."
"Yes it can be so. Our children call Silvano 'uncle', however, just like Giovanni. Uncle Giovanni and Uncle Silvano."
"Good." I said.
Then we met Silvana and her husband Sandro. After a pregnancy gone wrong, ended with a miscarriage, being unable to have children, they decided to adopt two Romanian brothers. Both were very blond and cute. Guillermo tied also with them immediately.
While my boyfriend was in the room of the two children and playing with them, and Sandro went to the cellar to get another bottle of wine, Silvana said to me: "Daniele... Guillermo is a great guy but... he doesn't resemble you at all. "
"No, he looks a lot like his mother. Although our mother said that he resembles me..."
"No... He's not your son, right?"
"Eh? Why? Of course he's my son, I recognized him."
"Yes... it can legally be so, he is a Savoldi, all right. But a father and son do not look at each other like you and Guillermo."
"Ah no? And how we look at each other, Guillermo and I?"
"You adore him and he you..."
"Well, Guillermo has never had a father... or I a child. We have to recover eighteen years, you understand... Ours can not be the normal relationship between a father and a son, it is necessarily... different. "
"Daniele... Sandro and I have adopted those two children, and we surely worship them... but not like you and Guillermo."
"You have taken them small..."
"Look, I'm not judging you, Daniele. Like... like I never judged Giovanni and Silvano. But if our brother and his boyfriend look at each other like two people in love... you and Guillermo look at each other in an adoring way, as I said. Forgive me, please, but to me this story that you sired him in San Francisco and then his mother, seventeen years after met you 'by accident' in Buenos Aires, and that after she had decided not to tell you anything this time instead... Anyway... if you insist... "
"I mean, you're telling me that you think Guillermo and I are lovers and not father and son."
"It is your own business, I know. And I know that I cannot put my hand in the fire... but if it were as I think... how could you bring him safely in Italy, if you're in love? Simple: saying you're his father. Just a... safe solution. "
I smiled: "And if it were as you say?" I asked.
She too smiled, took my hand and said: "You are happy to be together?"
"Sure."
"Good, everything else is of secondary importance. For me... If I must say that he is my nephew, I'm fine with that. Maybe I'm a little too sly, perhaps there are not the things that I see... But after all it has not no importance. Whether you are father and son or lovers... for me does not change anything. "
I nodded: "You have a long view, you, Silvana... But do not tell anyone, I prefer so. It's just like you imagined, from A to Z. Do you promise?"
She hugged me: "I'm glad you told me. Of course I will not tell anyone, not even Sandro. Guillermo is our nephew, your son, and the cousin of our children. For sure, however, two gay people in our family... indeed more than ten percent, for us Savoldi it is the fifty percent. "
"This upsets you, Silvana?"
"Not at all. I really like Guillermo, as well as Silvano. Perhaps a little more Guillermo. Do you want to tell me everything... now that I know?"
"Another time, gladly, but not now: I would not want Sandro to come in at the crucial moment and have to stop... However now I have to tell Guillermo you know."
"Do not you think it might make him uncomfortable? Is not it better if you don't tell him?"
"No, between us there is no secret, we always say everything."
"Well, you know him, do as you think. However, if you tell him, tell him also that for me, be him my nephew or my brother in law, does not change anything."
When we left I told everything to Guillermo. As expected, he took it well; indeed, he was pleased that Silvana accept our relationship so well.
For last we also met Giovanni and his Silvano. They are a really nice couple.
Shortly after we were together, Silvano was talking with me in the kitchen and Giovanni in the living room with Guillermo.
"Giovanni has told me a lot about you..." Silvano said.
"To me too about you. I'm glad to have known you, finally. I was hoping that you could came to visit us in Argentina..."
"So did I. But my holidays rarely coincide with those of Giovanni, unfortunately, and so... You know, you're just like he described you... Giovanni told me that you two are always been very well together..."
"Perhaps, although we did not know, being both of us gay made us feel closer than two normal brothers."
"Yes it can be so."
"I'm glad your relationship is lasting, that you are still so well together..."
"The merit is especially of Giovanni. It is impossible to argue with him. And he gradually was able to smooth my edges."
"The credit should be yours too. To be well as a couple, you must to have two people doing their best."
"Yes... but you see... I basically was a spoiled boy... you know, one of those who wants everything and at once... and who puts himself before all the others. He had to have a lot of patience with me, your brother. "
"Apparently it was worth it, though. It is evident that you love each other."
He looked at me with a smile: "I'm glad you say that. Not that it matters... Sorry, pass me those dishes, please? Thank you. Yes, we love each other. Despite some small frictions some time, especially for my fault, I must admit. Giovanni is truly a remarkable man; I was lucky to meet him... "
"He too told me to be lucky to have met you."
He smiled: "Did he ever tell you how and where did we meet?"
"No... not in detail, at least. During a cruise, right?"
"Yes, a gay cruise, the first that your brother did. The first and last though. I was one of the bartenders on board, just to earn something and have some fun in the meantime. The third day of sailing, we were coasting Spain, among the activities on board was organized a contest to elect Mr. Gay Cruise. Competitors had to do several things: singing, doing a skit, a dance competition, and a full strip tease... The winner received the crown, the blue sash, plus a refund of fifty percent of the cruise fare. The second received a plaque and a refund of twenty percent. The third, a certificate and the chance to kiss and spend a whole day with one of crewmembers on his choice...
"Well, John got third. He received the parchment, then he reviewed all the crewmembers... and he chose me. At first I thought that I was not lucky... physically I liked best the one that had finished fifth. However I was not exactly unhappy, your brother is not bad either. So I had a day off to spend with Giovanni. He, contrary to what I expected, didn't take me immediately in his cabin to fuck, but began to make me a real court... and when I made him realize that he had made me want to do it, he finally asked me, with the shyness of a schoolboy, if I did not mind to 'go and see his butterflies collection'.
"I burst out laughing and followed him to his cabin. And we made love. For me it was like a revelation: I had never had a so good sexual encounter before. That night I lay in his cabin and we made love three times... and it turned out he came from Parma. I then lived in Piacenza, not too far away. So we promised that we would have to meet again... During the cruise we made love a couple of times. Then, back to land, he showed up for real and we met again. He came to Piacenza, I went to Parma, and we were increasingly better together until Giovanni asked me to live together. "
"Well, a nice story. And you know about me and Guillermo?"
"Yes, Giovanni told me. You have had a good heart, though, to get a street kid."
"Maybe. However I was very lucky. Guillermo is a wonderful boy."
"Yes, I think he is a really great guy, as well as beautiful. We should learn to never stop on the first impression. Not to judge. It's way to easy to talk, to despise, to judge and to condemn... If you look at a closed oyster, you only see an ugly shell... and if you do not try to open it, you'll never know that inside there is perhaps a precious pearl. "
"It's really so. At first, that leash that Guillermo was wearing intrigued but also annoyed me. But luckily I made him take it off. I have been able, or just could see beyond the 'dog' that he had wanted to be or had to become to survive, and I discovered the true Guillermo... and I'm in love with him. "
"He let you take off the leash, anyway... he has learned to trust you, despite the bad stories that he had lived before he met you. Like you said, it takes two to build a good relationship, for a mutual love. I am pleased that Guillermo has met you - you're good together. And that he let you take off the leash that life had put around his neck."