Chapter Twenty
Three months later
~Nolan~
“Did you just sniff my hair?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“I like the way you smell,” I grinned and snuggled in closer. “Like coffee beans and cinnamon.”
“Maybe I should shower,” Bailey squirmed in my hold.
“Nu uh,” I tussled Bailey’s hair. “I like you like this.”
“Oh yeah, after a night of scrubbing pans and grinding coffee I must smell like a dream.”
“To me, you do.” I smiled into Bailey’s face, there was a hint of cinnamon on his breath and I licked across his lips hoping for a taste. “Tasty like one, too.”
Bailey clicked his tongue, brushing a lock of hair off of my forehead. “Are you trying to seduce me, Doc?”
“Most definitely,” I brushed my cheek against the stubble on his chin as I whispered, “Is it working?”
Grasping my hand, Bailey directed it downward, placing my open palm on his crotch and grinding his hip. “What do you think?”
“Mmm… I think I love you more today than all the days since we met.”
“You didn’t love me when we met.”
“Oh, yes I did,” I confessed. “I knew from the moment I saw you in your brown apron, cleaning the espresso machine that you were the one that I was going to marry.”
“Huh?”
Bailey’s eyes were wide like saucers, his deer in the headlights expression made me laugh. I rolled onto my side, resting on my crooked arm and smiled as I brushed Bailey’s hair from his eyes.
“Marry me, Bails,” I glided my finger across his lower lip, his beautiful mocha eyes staring into mine. “You know you want to. Come on, say yes. Say that I’m the man of your dreams, the one you want to be with for all eternity. Marry me and make my life complete?”
“You’re crazy,” Bailey rolled on top of me, his body weight felt like a comfortable warm woolen blanket as his lips roughly pressed against mine.
Before I could say more, Bailey was hopping towards the washroom swinging Taz in the air and whistling. For some reason, I was hoping that along with the marriage proposal there would have been some morning sex, a swapping of sweat and other bodily fluids. All I was left with was a quickly cooling void where Bailey had been moments ago. I pillowed my hands under my head and smiled up at the ceiling thinking of introducing Bailey to family and friends as my fiancé.
We had only been home three months, but in that time Bailey and I lived in each other's pocket, literally inseparable. We took turns staying at each other’s houses. Life felt perfect with Bailey, just about complete. All we needed were shiny gold bands and an announcement of our love to the world.
“Get dressed, Doc!” Bailey yelled from the washroom.
“It’s nine o’clock on a Sunday morning, besides you didn’t answer me,” I propped myself up on my elbows. “And you haven’t slept at all.”
“Doc, I can’t marry you.”
I heard the words as they whipped across the room and Bailey appeared in the doorway wiping a towel over his face. My heart crushed in my chest as I sat up, my feet hitting the cold floor and my mouth gaping open.
“But Bailey-”
“No,” he came over and stood at my feet, fiddling with my hair. “I can’t marry you until I come clean with my parents. I want my family to be at my wedding. Get dressed so we can go. My mom’s going to love having a doctor in the family.”
“Jesus, don’t ever do that to me again!” I grabbed Bailey’s wrist and yanked him across my knee, playfully spanking him as he tried to wriggle free.
“Oh, Doc, don’t stop, I like it!” Bailey chuckled, as he slid to the floor between my thighs and smiled up at me the way he knew I couldn’t resist. “Seriously, it’s time for me to come out before I can tell you yes.”
“But it is a yes, right?”
“Hold that thought until after we see my parents,” Bailey held my hand, sweeping his thumb lazily across my knuckles. “Then, if I’m still alive you can ask me again.”
~
The McAllister family home looked like any other run-of-the-mill house, on any other average street, in any other typical neighborhood. I don’t know what I had expected, but what I saw was ordinary. I was surprised when we stopped at the front door and Bailey knocked, he must have noticed because he tittered before explaining.
“I learned a long time ago to always knock,” Bailey knocked a second time. “Walking in and finding your parents doing it on the living room carpet, is not something you ever want to see again, believe me, there’s not enough bleach in the entire world.”
“Eww… yeah,” I scrunched my nose and held back a laugh as the door opened.
“Bailey,” a tall slim woman with Bailey’s eyes and hair color practically leapt into his arms. “Baby, why didn’t you call and tell me you were coming?”
“Then they wouldn’t call it dropping in, mom,” he teased, lifting her off of the ground and spinning her in a few circles as she giggled.
When her feet landed on the ground, she stepped back immediately offering her hand. “And who is this?”
“This is Nolan Brahms,” Bailey introduced me and I was happy he didn’t use the friend word to describe who I was to him. “Is dad home?”
“Welcome, Nolan, come on in,” she stepped back and we walked just past her and stopped. “You can call me Brea, your father’s in the living room with his nose buried in the newspaper.”
Bailey and I shared a glance and chuckled, his mother’s brow creased for a moment before she led us down a short hall.
“Dear, look who came for a visit,” she clamped onto Bailey’s arm and directed him to a spot on the sofa and I joined him, being sure not to sit too close.
His father’s eyes moved back and forth between Bailey and me and he folded the newspaper he had been reading and set it on the TV tray beside him. “What brings you by, son?”
“Nolan, this is my dad, Bob,” we shared nods and casual smiles.
“Nice to meet you, sir.”
“Bob,” his father directed in a tone I couldn’t decipher.
Bailey picked at the tag on the zipper of his hoodie, he was understandably nervous and I couldn’t blame him. This all happened so many years ago for me as a teenage boy, I hardly remembered the day. I suppose I was one of the lucky ones, because my parents accepted my announcement without question, after I told them I wouldn’t be taking a date to the prom, because he had to work that night. I laugh now, but thinking back I should have been scared shitless.
There was something about the way Mr. McAllister studied us that should have worried me, but again, he seemed settled in place as he watched his son.
“Let me just put on a pot of coffee and then we’ll enjoy a nice long talk,” Bailey’s mom darted from the room, shooting her head around the corner moments later. “Or do you prefer tea, Mr. Brahms?”
“Coffee would be wonderful, and please call me Nolan.”
“Be right back. Bob, show Bailey and his friend the holiday brochures.”
“Your mother is trying to convince me to go on a cruise,” Bob harrumphed as he handed Bailey brightly colored brochures featuring a giant ship and palm trees. “Some Caribbean deal for seniors… I’m not a bloody senior and don’t want to be treated like one. Give me my recliner and air-conditioning any day. Why spend good money to float around on a boat in the heat?”
Bailey and I shared the brochure, looking over the ports of interest and the many shore excursions offered. Swimming with dolphins, catamaran adventures, horseback riding on exotic beaches. It all sounded wonderful, not that I would ever be interested in a vacation again, but for Bailey’s parents it looked like just the thing.
“When do you leave?” Bailey asked, with a cheeky grin.
“February twentieth.”
We tittered at Bob’s dilemma just as Brea came in with a tray of goodies and set them on the coffee table. The tray was practically overflowing with home baked cookies and a pound cake trickled in pink icing and an assortment of mini muffins stacked in a tartan patterned tin. Brea handed each of us a cup of coffee and instructed us to help ourselves.
“How are you feeling, managing to keep the flu bug at bay?” Brea patted Bailey’s arm as he gave a sigh that I was sure his mother was not supposed to hear. “You look pale.”
“I’m not pale, mom,” Bailey tossed his half-eaten cookie onto the tray of goodies.
“Well no, not now. Now you look flushed.” She tutted. “Maybe you’re coming down with something. Let me take your temperature?”
“For the love of God, Brea, leave the boy alone,” Bob scolded his wife as he broke a shortbread cookie in half and dunked it into his cup then popped it into his mouth.
“He’s my son, I worry about him,” Brea huffed.
I took a bite of a shortbread cookie to stop myself from laughing, the buttery sweet morsel melted on my tongue and I almost let out a moan. There was nothing like home baked shortbread and I knew straightaway where Bailey’s baking skills came from.
“I’m not sick, I feel great, in fact I couldn’t be better,” Bailey looked at me and smiled. His father cleared his throat, I knew he saw what I saw.
“You should stay for dinner,” his mother told, taking no notice of us as she set two more cookies on Bailey’s napkin. “I can pop a casserole in the oven, the freezer needs rotating anyway.”
“Please don’t fuss,” I heard the words leave my lips and met Brea’s confused gaze. “I was planning to take Bailey out for dinner tonight.”
“And why would you do that when you could have a home cooked meal instead?” she asked.
“We didn’t come here for food, or coffee or cake and cookies, mom,” Bailey sat a touch taller as he wiped his mouth with a napkin and set both our cups on the coffee table. “I have something I need to tell you.”
“Oh?” his mother held her napkin to her lips as tears welled up in her eyes. “You are sick. Well, you’ll move back into your room so I can take care of you. I can hire a live-in nurse and-”
“Oh, dear God woman, will you let the boy speak?” Bob snarled, as he sat forward with a grimace, the minty smell of ointment invading my nostrils. “Damned knees.”
“I’ll get the Ben-gay,” his mother seemed happy to finally be able to help someone.
“Stop!” Bailey yelled, his mother sat wide-eyed with a thud, her mouth hanging open and I wanted to laugh at the butterflies upsetting my stomach, but held it back. “I’m not sick, I’m not tired, I’m not anything! I’m gay!”
“Oh my,” his mother set one hand on her chest the other over her mouth, she was an incredibly drama driven woman.
“And Nolan is my boyfriend,” he smiled and took my hand in his. “He’s a doctor, he owns his own home, two cars, he loves antiques and… he loves me and I love him.”
“A doctor?” that seemed to be the only thing his mother took notice of as she fussed with her hair and straightened her apron. “So, Doctor Brahms, do you have your own practice?”
So, it seemed Brea either took the news extremely well or she was ignoring it all together. On the other hand, Bob just sat there with a vacant look as he sipped at his coffee.
“Not that kind of doctor, Mrs. McAllister, a therapist,” I clarified, just so she would calm herself. Bailey didn’t look too pleased and things were already uncomfortable.
“Dating a doctor just the same,” Brae seemed delighted. “How long have you boys been seeing each other?” She amazed me, Brea was taking it better than my own parents had, she barely batted an eye as she refilled our coffee mugs and offered us each a slice of cake. “Where did you meet? I want to hear everything.”
“Another time mom, okay?” Bailey grinned. “We have other news.”
“Not so fast, Bailey,” I stopped him before he could say anything more and adjusted myself to face him, taking both his hands in mine and looking at his parents. “The reason we came here today was so Bailey could reveal to you both that he is indeed gay, but, I have something I need to ask both of you, also.”
“Go on,” Bob encouraged. I wasn’t sure what he thought of Bailey’s revelation, he made no attempt to say anything at all.
“I would like to ask for your permission to marry your son.”
“Oh, my goodness,” my mother jumped into the air, rushing over and kissing and hugging us both. “Yes, yes, yes!”
~
~Bailey~
“Dad, you’re not saying anything,” my father was unreadable, his face expressionless as his eyes fanned back and forth between Nolan and myself.
A discomfited silence hung heavy in the room, as all eyes targeted Bailey’s father and he sat tapping his fingertips on the leather arm of his chair.
“Do you promise to love, honor and cherish my son, Mr. Brahms?” My father suddenly asked, his composed tone cool and even.
“Until death do us part, sir,” Nolan vowed unflappable by my father’s questioning. I laughed as he suddenly dropped down onto one knee and fluttered his lashes up at me. “Bailey, baby, it would be a privilege and you would make me the happiest man alive, if you would do me the honor of becoming my husband. I promise to do my best to make you happy and keep a smile pasted on your beautiful face. Will you marry me?”
“Yes, Doc, I will marry you,” I pulled Nolan to his feet and kissed him deeply, passionately and completely.
“I suppose this means we have a wedding to plan, Brea,” my father offered his hand to Nolan as mom squeezed the life out of me, and I could have cried as dad smiled and clapped Nolan’s arm with his other hand. “Welcome to the family, son.”
“No engagement ring?” mom asked.
“I don’t need a ring mom,” I answered.
“I was thinking that we could shop for antique wedding rings, what do you think?” I suggested because of our mutual love of antiquities.
“Wait right there!” My mother disappeared up the stairs, while we talked about antique dealers Nolan could contact. She reappeared and stood before us with a huge smile.
“These belonged to my grandparents,” my mother handed me a small brown leather box and I opened it as she spoke. “They were married for sixty-six wonderful years. You could take them to a jeweler and have them melted down and made into matching bands. If they could stay together that long, perhaps it would give you boys luck for a long happy marriage.”
“We couldn’t take these,” Nolan said, fingering the two plain gold bands lying in the box.
“You can and you will,” my mother closed the box in my hand and pressed it hard into my palm. “You see, your great-great-grandparents secretly married at a time when it was considered illegal for a white woman to marry a black man. The odds were against them from the beginning and still they managed to stay together. And I’m well aware that it’s legal for two men to get married, I’m up on the news of the day. But even though, life isn’t going to be all sunshine and roses for you two. We live in a very narrow-minded world and sadly there are people out there who will never accept you. These rings will signify a unity that can never be broken. So see, you must take them, besides it will make me happy knowing my son and his husband are wearing family heirlooms. Who knows maybe one day your kids will pass them on, too.”
“Kids?” I blurted. “Who said anything about kids?”
“Surely you’re going to make me a grandmother!”
“Oh, good God,” My father stepped in. “Make a break for it now boys, while you can. And don’t be strangers. Let us know when you set a date and if you need anything. Your mother and I would like to give you boys a nice wedding.” He leaned into my ear and whispered, “I think I always knew.” And he smiled, my heart skipping a beat as he patted my arm with pride.
Not that he shoved us out the door to get rid of us, I was thankful my father supplied us with an escape. I wasn’t going to have to worry about my mother’s incessant need to take care of me anymore, she had a new agenda. Grandchildren. I wasn’t sure which was worse, but poor Nolan was in for a lifetime of fun with my mother.
“You look worried,” Nolan looked back to the road. “It can’t be because your parents took the news badly. So, what’s up?”
“I don’t want kids,” I came right out and pulled off the Band-Aid. “I should have said something sooner and I’ll understand if you don’t want to marry me anymore, but I just can’t see me with children.”
“Relax Bailey, I don’t want kids either,” Nolan announced and a sense of relief washed over me. “Don’t get me wrong, I like children and all, as long as they belong to someone else. You understand me?”
“Sometimes I don’t even like them then,” I laughed, tangling my fingers with Nolan’s. “Just thank God neither of us can get pregnant.”
“Halleluiah!”