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Fall came. Clay and I started our last year at the university. Clay's knee was pretty much healed. He still wore a plastic brace to help support and protect it. I was already working part time as a student nurse at the university hospital. Clay was spending two days a week up at the aquarium in Monterrey. Fortunately for him, they were consecutive days. It was about an hour drive each way. I often wondered which one would give up their position for the other once Clay graduated and started working as a marine biologist. My birthday was coming up again. We'd celebrated John's birthday back in August with a quiet little dinner party, just the five of us in attendance. I assumed that mine would be celebrated the same way. I was in for a surprise. First off, let me say that we had made a lot of good friends in the time we have lived here. Karl's friends integrated with them. We all had an active social life beyond our family circle. It was amusing to see how John's friends, who were more or less his age, begin to socialize with Karl's, Clay's and mine. They all accepted that Karl and Clay were openly a couple, and as time has gone by, I feel that many of John's circle of friends have come to realize that John and I are together. No matter how hard one tries, it's nearly impossible to completely hide one's feelings, especially when it's love for one's mate. Karl and Clay opened the house for a large party, inviting more than fifty guests. Some were people we all worked with. Some were merely people we were friendly with. Many were close friends, some Karl's, some John's, some Clay's, and some mine. What we, John and I, were unaware of was that it would be sort of a coming out party for John. John nearly had an apoplexy the first time one of our neighbors, accompanied by her husband, casually told him that she was delighted that he'd found someone. Her husband commented that we made a handsome couple. John tried to dissemble, but his friend put a brotherly arm around his shoulder and quietly told him they'd been aware of his relationship with George, and that it had been accepted by all his friends. They had respected his privacy and let him mourn in private, but now it was time to come out of his shell and share his happiness. I was unaware of this conversation taking place. I was quietly conversing with some classmates when John walked up and said, "Excuse me, but I'm stealing Ralph for a moment." He grabbed my hand and led me over to stand in front of the fireplace where he raised his voice and called for everyone's attention. When everyone had quieted and was looking at us with anticipation, John said, "Since many of you are aware of my feelings for Ralph, our birthday boy, I want to publicly give him his present from me." He turned and took both my hands in his. "Ralph, you've been very patient with me. I want you to know along with all our friends here that I love you and want to acknowledge my love before of all these witnesses. Happy Birthday, Kid." He then proceeded to embrace me and drew me into a kiss. I was speechless. This was something I'd never expected, not even dared to wish for. I forgot that there was a crowd watching as I kissed him back. When the clapping started, I came to my senses and pulled back. John was grinning. I know I was ten deep shades of red, but I ignored my embarrassment and said, "I love you, John." I'm sure no one heard me for all the cheering and clapping. But John knew what I said and that was all that mattered. It's funny that neither of us had ever said it until that night in front of all our friends. After that night, we said it often to each other. However, our nightly rendezvous continued unchanged. It was something I'd just come to accept, even though I would have preferred a different arrangement - like living together. In the weeks following the party, John had expected a big fallout from his declaration. It was amusing that only the Baptist minister and a couple of his staunchest followers pulled their accounts from John's bank when they heard about it. But it was more amusing to hear of all the congratulations and well-wishes that he received. Two weeks before Thanksgiving, John threw a big birthday bash for both Karl and Clay. He chose a Saturday between their birthdays and invited everyone that had been at the party they'd thrown for me. It was rather awkward for me. I'd received an invitation just as every other guest. And other than the invitation nothing had been said to me about the party. I left the house with Karl and Clay and entered John's house as just another guest, with a hand shake, a kiss on my cheek, and a warm welcome to his home. But everyone assumed that I was the co-host. Even though I'd not been in on the planning, I felt that to show support for John I should act like I was, even though internally I was seething. Several people asked me what was going on with John and me. I could only dissemble and pretend that everything was okay. Eventually, I cornered John and asked, "What is my status here? Am I a guest or should I be acting like the host everyone seems to think I am?" John looked surprised, but before I could get an answer out of him some woman came up and swept him away. I stared after him as he glanced back at me, his expression unreadable. Whatever game he was playing, I'd had enough. I found my way to the cellar door and made my way down to the tunnel, unscrewing light bulbs as I went. I was two-thirds through the tunnel when all the lights ahead of me shut off. In surprise I stopped for a moment. John's voice reached me in the blackness, "If you promise to turn around and come back I'll light your way back." I considered it for a moment, then muttered "Fuck you" under my breath and started forward through the darkness with one hand sliding along the wall. I made it to the door into Karl's basement. Without turning on a light I entered the anti-chamber, closed the door behind me and then opened the door into the stairwell by feel. Once I was in the stairwell with the door closed behind me, I turned on the lights and ascended to my bedroom removing each light bulb as I passed it. If he wanted to play games, by damn I could play, too. Once through the mirrored door in my bedroom, I went through the house directly down to the basement and found a hammer and some big nails. I moved the boxes that had been placed in front of the basement access door and re-entered the anti-chamber. At a sharp angle, I hammered two of the long nails through the jamb into the tunnel door. I nearly jumped out of my skin when John, who apparently had followed me through the tunnel, asked, "What the hell did you do that for?" I turned and faced him. "I am not your concubine. If you wish to visit me in my chambers you will come through the front door. It's embarrassing to have those people in your house... our friends... acting like I'm the co-host. And I refuse to be simply a guest at your party. I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but I've had enough." I pushed past him and went through the basement and up to the kitchen. He followed me and stood at the door, watching me get a glass and fill it with chilled water from the fridge door. I stared at him a moment, then drank the entire glassful. As I set the glass on the counter, he said, "Please, come back to the party." In disbelief, I stared at him. Shaking my head, I said, "Give me one good reason." "Because I love you and you love me." "Hmph, you're going to have to do better than that." "If you don't come back you'll spoil the surprise I had planned." "I am in no mood for surprises. Right now I am really unhappy with you." He looked at me like a hurt puppy. "I'm sorry. I only wanted to please you." "Please Me? Closing me out and making me feel like a fool. That's a strange way to try to please me, John. How about being open and letting me know what is happening. How about letting me be part of what you are doing. We're supposed to be a couple, and treating me like a guest is not part of it. Your house is full of guests, John. They are without a host. You really should get back over there." He shook his head. "Not without you." "Don't you get it, John? I don't want to be a guest at your party." "Then come back with me as my co-host - my partner." "Partners share, John." "That's what I'm asking. Share this with me. Share the rest of my life with me. Move in and share that big empty house with me. Help me make it a warm happy home for the two of us." I stared at him in disbelief. "You make me fucking crazy. You know that don't you?" He grinned at me. "So, you'll do it?" I studied him a moment. "So this is your surprise?" He nodded. "You swear that you were going to ask before I nailed the tunnel closed?" "I swear, Ralph, that was going to be the surprise." I shook my head. "You're weird." "But you do love me." He advanced on me and I wrapped my arms around him. "Yes, John, even though you exasperate me, I love you with all my heart and soul." "I'm glad, Kid." he said as he hugged me fiercely. "For a bit there I was afraid I'd gone too far." I held him at arm's length and gave him a wry look. "You went right to the edge of the precipice with this one." "But you'd have jumped off after me. I know you would have," he said smugly. "As I've told you before, for a staid banker you can be really off the wall, but I gotta say… it only makes me love you all the more." "Well, it's about time, John," our neighbor who had helped drag John out of his closet said over the cheering. Clay stepped up and hugged me. "You got what you deserve, Ralph. I love ya, Buddy. You finally got your man." When Kacy found out the next morning that I was moving out he got really upset. He wrapped his arms around my leg and looked accusingly at each of us through his tears, "Why does Raff have to move? Why can't Granddaddy John move over here?" He asked We four adults looked at each other. No one knew how to answer that. Karl looked at John and asked, "Dad?" John looked at me and then at Karl. "I personally would love to have all of you around all the time. How do you feel about it, Ralph?" "Truthfully, I would love it." John looked at Clay. Clay grinned. "Hey, I'm all for anything that makes my men happy. You'd be a welcome addition to this household, John." "Son?" John looked back at Karl. "There are still three unused rooms upstairs. Two of them could be turned into your study… a place for you to get away when you need to." "So it's unanimous?" We all nodded. John knelt and took Kacy into his arms. "Okay, you sweet, smart, little cookie, Granddaddy John is going to move over here so you can keep your Raff." Kacy grinned and swiped at his wet cheeks. "I love you. Thank you for letting me keep him, I love him, too, you know." He kissed John on the cheek with a big hug around his neck and then pulled away and ran over to me, yelling in his little boy voice. "You can't move, Raff. I get to keep you. You're mine." I swept him up in my arms. It was just a natural move for all of us with John hugging me, Clay hugging Kacy who was still in my arms, and Karl hugging his dad and Clay at the same time… just one big family hug. * * * Two weeks later, John's huge old mansion sat empty. It was Clay who came up with the idea of turning it into a home for qualified students from the university. John was on the university's Board of Regents, so it wasn't long before he had four married couples, two with children, living communally in the house for less than any of them could rent an apartment. * * * Life on the hill was never again as staid as its Victorian beginnings. The End. |