Chapter 15.

Jon sat in the front row and smiled up at the man he loved as he told terrible lies. Ed said, with sadness, that his brothers had died as they had lived, always thinking of other people. Ed went on to say that those close to Philip and Kevin knew about their plans to begin investing in education and the youth of the city, and out of respect for them he was going to continue with that initiative. There was a mild ripple of surprise around the room, but no-one wanted to admit that they weren’t in the loop, so everyone nodded and murmured in approval.

Ed was still pale and shaky on his feet after his days in captivity, so fortunately not too much was expected of him today. He wavered and held onto the podium as he tired, so Jon slipped up beside him and put an arm around him to give him support. Ed finished his speech by announcing that his brothers had so been looking forward to his marriage to his darling Jon, and he was sorry they wouldn’t be there to celebrate it with them. The brothers would, he suggested, be looking down from above to bless them.

Several people in the chapel looked at their programs to make sure they were at the right funeral service, and lifted their eyebrows at each other. Jon hugged Ed, and whispered in his ear that he should have gone into theatre.

Jon spoke briefly about how sorry he was that he hadn’t had more time to get to know these selfless men, and then he and Ed surrendered the podium.

A few people managed to say nice things about the two brothers who had died in a gun battle defending themselves while delivering a payment to some drug dealers who they had hired to kill their younger brother. The published version was a bit more sanitized, of course, but the fact that they had taken several of the drug dealers down with them was counted as a win.

The white upper-class eulogists seemed to have trouble talking while staring down at the front row. This was supposed to be for family, but there was a strange mix of people sitting there, black, white and Latino, then their Police Captain holding hands with a Latino man! There were also several dark skinned women who may have been the secretaries, but since when were secretaries ‘family’? It was all very confusing.

The ex-wives, who were vaguely remembered as being uniformly sharp and blond, had all left town years ago. None of them had bothered coming back once they learned they weren’t in the wills.

Jon was at Ed’s side for the reception, and Lawrence helped Connie pack up the un-eaten food to take back to the garden for the children. They were always hungry, even the well-fed ones.

Lawrence announced that he was retiring, sort of, and moving out to the west coast, and he couldn’t take his eyes off Connie when he said it. Jon refrained from pointing out that everyone had seen that one coming. He exchanged smiles with Rafe and Miguel, who were coming to like Lawrence and were hoping that his presence would take their mother’s attention off them.

When it was all done and packed up, and the last hand had been shaken and envelopes slipped to the pastor, the usher and the caterer, Jon and Ed retreated to the privacy of his condo, getting a bit crowded now with both of them, three cats, and the largest cat climbing post Jon had ever seen. Vine thought he was too dignified to play on it, except when he wasn’t, but Rose enticed Myrtle into wild games which usually involved Rose hanging off the top level like a wild thing, slapping at Myrtles’ head. Myrtle just rolled over and smiled like a proud mama.

“So,” said Jon, “I heard someone bought the condo next door, where Valerie and Bob were staying.”

“Um, yeah. I was going to tell you ...”

“Which would explain the cat door cut into the wall?”

“Um, well, the kids need room to have fun, sweetheart.”

“So, of all the lies that you were telling at the service ...?”

“Oh no. The ones about loving you and getting married weren’t lies.”

Jon pinned him on the bed and smiled down at him. “Will you marry me?”

“Oh yeah. And next time we stand up in a chapel, it’ll be the truth and forever. Does that work for you?”

A small tortoiseshell kitten came flying across the room and scrambled up Jon’s back, hanging on with her tiny claws before launching across the room from his shoulder. Jon yelped and dropped down on Ed, who laughed.

“What a clever cat. Now I have you just where I want you.” He rolled Jon over and rested his forehead on Jon’s. “God, I was so scared I was never going to see you again and I never told you I loved you.”

“Love you too and love you more. I have never been so scared in my life. Heh, can you do one thing for me?”

“Anything.”

Jon fished around under the pillow that he was resting on, and pulled out a sheet of paper, which he held up to Ed. It took Ed a moment to figure it out.

“What? Hang on, but ...”

“You said anything, babe. And Careen made these nice posters, it would be a shame to waste them.”

Ed tried to find a good argument, but couldn’t. ‘Elect Ed’ did have a nice ring to it, and Careen had used a good photo of him.

“Seriously, babe, there’s a lot that needs fixing, and if not us, then who?”

Ed saw a glimmer of hope. “Well, you could ...”

“Nah, someone I know donated the money for the new kitchen and community center at the garden, so I’ll be busy for a year or two. Or three. Anyway I’m not nearly as photogenic as you are. Photogenic means sexy, in case you didn’t know.”

“Oh, does it? Well, if I’m so sexy, and I happen to have you pinned down, what do you think I should do with you?” He flinched and shrieked, and Jon had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. “Right after I put the cats out of the bedroom.” He reached around and gently picked up a miniature tortoiseshell panther by the scruff of the neck, glaring at her. She purred wildly, and Jon could have sworn she was laughing.

“Maybe you should make love to me until I’m a quivering mass, and then when I get my breath back I can do the same to you? And we’ll keep doing that, in between feeding the cats and gardening and other important stuff, until we’re both old men. And maybe in our next lives too – I don’t think there’s enough time in one life.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

                        The end.